37 



m 



mice, which animals, like the horfe, appear alfo def- 

 tined to live on grain. This peculiarity confifts in 

 having its firft half covered by a thick, ftrong ikin, 

 which defends it from the hard bodies of grain, and 

 perhaps acls, in a flight degree, as a gizzard on thefe 

 bodies. A horfe has a very fmall ftomach [fee «, 

 frontifpiece] ; he therefore eats little, but often ; for, 

 being a fpeedy animal, it would have been inconveni- 

 ent that he fliould eat much, and have retained it long 

 in his ftomach. Not only, therefore, is a horfe's fto- 

 mach fmall, but what he eats ftays there but a little 

 time. Thus a horfe will drink three pails of water, 

 yet kis ftomach will hold only one : hence, as a horfe's 

 food ftays but a little time in his ftomach, it is ne- 

 ceffary that it fliould be broke very fmall before it 

 enters ; and this teaches the ufe of giving horfes 

 bruifed food, which partly chews it for them, and 

 thus makes it prove mare nutritious : it likewife 

 fliews us why a horfe bears hunger fo much worfe 

 than cattle, for his Itomach holds but little, and 

 pafles that little off foon. From this it will appear 

 that the mode of treating hunters and racers is er- 

 roneous, when they are deprived of victuals many 

 hours before they hunt or race ; and hence, at the 

 end of their exertions, they are frequently weakened 

 too much to recover. The ftomach of a dog is more 

 mufcular and ftrong than that of a horfe, for he has 

 to acl on ftrong fubftances, as flefli, which, when 



