66 HORSE-BACK RIDING. 



superfluous or extraneous material, and tending to 

 remove, by increasing the activity of the viscera, 

 bodies which obstruct them, it must be a powerful 

 remedy. 



Both reason and practical experiment demonstrate 

 in the most complete manner that the efBcacy of the 

 substances employed by the physician consists above 

 all things in this : that these substances possess the 

 power either of calming super-excited or disordered 

 functions, or of increasing the activity of those organs 

 that perform their functions incompletely or too tar- 

 dily. 



The most efficacious and reliable medicines are, it 

 is well known, those which influence the circulation 

 and excite moderate action of the skin (perspiration). 

 The knowledge of this fact is so general, that the 

 farmer, when his horse is stiff from work or cold, does 

 not permit him to rest, but exercises him until a 

 moderate degree of sweating is produced. 



The effects produced by horse-back riding of course 

 vary, and should be graduated or adapted to the 

 wants of the economy or the requirements of the 

 disease : the walk, the trot, the gallop, as we have 

 previously learned, affect the system in different ways 

 and degrees, as do the amount and character of the 

 exercise. 



Some horses are far harder to ride than others, 

 both temper and manner of moving influencing this ; 

 the mode of riding, the habits of the rider, and the 



