08 THE NOBLE SCIENCE. 



when required for depletion, and cannot fail to operate 

 injuriously, rather than beneficially, upon the consti- 

 tution. Many horses, and not only horses but human 

 beings, have been killed by having been incautiously bled, 

 when animation has been all but suspended from exhaus- 

 tion. The lancet, intended to assist the animal functions, 

 has then extinguished the last spark of vitality remain- 

 ing. If a hound fall in a fit, or if a horse stop in distress 

 from fulness, and is evidently labouring under the effu- 

 sion of blood upon his lungs, caused by unwonted exer- 

 tions, then the abstraction of blood will, of course, pre- 

 vent its determination to the part affected ; but the pulse 

 must be the index upon all occasions, and sufficient time 

 must be allowed to elapse, to admit of reaction in the 

 circulation. You may then safely bleed, and should 

 bleed freely, to obviate the fever which would otherwise 

 supervene.* It is absurd to ridicule what is called the 

 quackery of a stable, and to affect, as I have known some 

 people, to " throw physic to the dogs." What would 

 race-horses be without the discipline, apart from their 

 exercise, known and proved to be indispensable ? The 

 whole system, from beginning to end, is artificial, and it 

 is, therefore, nonsense to talk of leaving much, unless 

 all is left, to Nature. A horse in training, or quite up to 

 the mark for hunting, is in a state bordering upon high 

 fever ; a state, not of Nature, but one making continual 

 demands upon the art which produced it. Constitutions 

 must be studied, all symptoms carefully watched, medi- 

 * See note to page 116. 



