CONDITION OF HUNTERS RESUMED 295 



which, next to copious blood-letting, we know it to 

 be the most powerful check — we do not stand in 

 need of a guide. As an auxihary to condition, it is 

 acknowledged to be as essential as good hay and 

 com. But the secret consists in knowing when it 

 should be given to preserve the condition it has so 

 much contributed to establish ; and it is certainly 

 best understood in racing stables, where, amidst what 

 we might be induced to term the excesses of physic and 

 sweating, the ultra of condition is to be seen. 



The theory of purgation is a subject which it will 

 not be expected I should enter upon at any length. 

 Suffice it to say, that the two principal objects are, 

 to unload the bowels of matter that is of no farther 

 service to the body, and therefore only an incum- 

 brance to it ; and to excite a determination of blood 

 to the internal surface of the intestinal canal, in order 

 that some of it may be evacuated in the form of 

 secretion. Thirdly, cathartics increase the influx of 

 the biliary and pancreatic secretions, and therefore 

 promote health by their influence on the digestive 

 organs. 



I was much pleased with one of those pithy hints 

 which Mr Abernethy gave his pupils at a late lecture. 

 " Gentle medicines," said he, " bring about the secre- 

 tions ; I do not like to bully the organs into health." 

 This exactly accords with my ideas of the effects of 

 physic on horses. I am quite certain that a gentle 

 purgative should be given to every horse full of hard 

 meat once in six weeks throughout the year, exclusively 

 of somewhat stronger physic at particular seasons. 



