WASTING. 251 



matter, owners being often foolishly exacting on this 

 point. I am quite certain that on the flat a jockey can 

 ride quite 5 Ibs. better when he is fit and well, than he 

 can when he is weak from wasting, while in steeplechas- 

 ing the difference is one of stones and not of pounds. 



A lamp bath is often taken instead of a regular sweat, 

 if the man in training be lazy, or not able to walk well. 

 It is arranged thus : Three or four small saucers full of 

 oil with lighted cotton wicks in them, are placed under- 

 a chair on which the man sits, care being taken that a 

 couple of thick doubled towels are put under him. He 

 should have no clothes on, but should have several rugs 

 and blankets, wrapped round the chair and himself, and 

 brought tight under it, so that the heated air may not 

 escape. A waterproof sheet considerably assists this 

 operation. A little practice is required to teach one how 

 to get the rugs and blankets fixed. If the hot air be 

 properly kept in, the person taking this bath will break 

 out into a profuse perspiration in about ten minutes, 

 while this may be continued for an hour, which will be 

 about the limit that most men can bear. 



A lamp bath will take little more than half the 

 weight off that a regular sweat will do, for its action 

 is confined to the pores of the skin alone, while in the 

 other there is a general waste of the body, the lungs 

 aiding very largely in carrying off the debris. By the 

 quickened breathing disintegrated tissue is rapidly got 

 rid of, and pure blood is sent to the heart, and from it 

 to the system generally. In a lamp bath, the action 

 of the heart, after a short time, becomes tumultuous 

 and the breathing laboured, on account of the lungs being 



