282 THE CONDITION OF HUNTERS 



which opinion I shall never alter. The hair being 

 a covering which nature has provided for the skin of 

 animals to protect them from cold, heat, and external 

 injury, to deprive them of it is an outrage on Nature, 

 which can never stand its ground ; and although 

 the practice is on the increase, and although in some 

 individual cases I do not condemn it, yet, generally 

 speaking, it is nothing but a substitute for bad groom- 

 ing and idleness, 



Mr W. Percivall's " Lecture (32nd) on the Hair of the 

 Horse " is extremely interesting to anyone who has 

 curiosity to inquire into the wonderful operations of 

 Nature, and the coat of this animal holds a con- 

 spicuous place even there. Why a horse should change 

 his coat twice every year it is not for us to inquire ; 

 but in what manner the change is effected may not be 

 unworthy of detail. 



A hair, it seems, is composed of three parts — the 

 bulb, the root, and the stem. At moulting time the 

 pulpy substance at the root of the hair shrinks and 

 dries up ; the stem, consequently, no longer supplied 

 with nourishment, loses its support and falls off ; at 

 the same time a new pulp appears by the side of the 

 old one, which, during the absorption of the latter, 

 grows and gives root to a new hair ; so that the root 

 and stem only, and not the bulb, undergo the process 

 of regeneration. " The coat of the horse," adds Mr 

 P., " is shed twice during the year — in spring and 

 autumn — a phenomenon exhibited with great regu- 

 larity so long as the animal remains wild ; but as soon 

 as he is domesticated, this process is influenced by 



