16 PATHOLOGY. 



given at once ought to be divided into two or three parts and 

 given at intervals ; if this be not done, colic, rupture, enteritis, 

 or laminitis may ensue. If a horse seem voracious from long 

 fasting, a similar course would often aA^ert an attack of perhaps 

 a fatal disease ; and at all times, if it be deemed expedient, 

 owing to a damaged condition of the grain, to give cooked food 

 — an unnatural kind of food for horses, cattle, and sheep — it 

 ought to be given in small quantities, and often. — (See Diseases 

 of the Digestive Organs, also effects of Potatoes.) 



Food defective in quantity or nourishment causes debility, 

 wasting, cedematous legs, susceptibility to the attacks of parasites, 

 anaemia, dropsy, and even death. 



Chusat found that in animals gradually starved to death the 

 temperature of the body progressively declined, and unless 

 maintained artificially, the animals seemed to die of cold. All 

 the textures, even the bones, sustained great loss of weight, but 

 those of the nervous system less than any others. 



Sudden change of food, even if it be of good quality, is 

 often a cause of disease. For example, what is more common 

 than a sudden outbreak of disease amongst cattle, particularly 

 young ones, hardly kept in the winter, when first turned into 

 rich pastures. The same applies to sheep, and I have often 

 witnessed a fatal form of enteric disease amongst sheep — in one 

 instance extending to cattle and horses — when depastured 

 during early summer upon land lately drained and limed. 

 So great was the fatality, that the farm seemed unfit for 

 grazing purposes, for, after liming and draining had been 

 completed, the more benefit the land seemed to derive from 

 the cultivation and the richer the pasture, the greater the 

 mortality. 



The injlucnce of water. — Much prejudice exists, particularly 

 among horsemen, as to the use of water. In consequence of 

 this we find that hunters and racehorses are severely punished 

 before they are called upon to hunt or race, by having but a 

 very limited and insufficient allowance of water prior to the 

 performance of their task. What harm a sufficient suj^ply of 

 water, partaken of several hours before the hunt or race, can 

 effect, is beyond my comprehension ; indeed I have found tliat 

 a hunter properly fed and watered on a hunting morning has 

 been enabled, provided always that it is otherwise in condition, 



