OUTLINE OF THE STRUCTURE OF THE HORSE. 31 



cles than with the skin and hair, whose condition it affects 

 materially. Oozing out at the pores, it oils the entire surface 

 of the skin — which is thus kept soft and pliant — makes the 

 hair smooth and glossy, and thus imparts to the horse one 

 of his chief beauties. This is Nature's own mode of adorn- 

 ment. 



There is another agent which has a more important influ- 

 ence upon both the action and the power of the muscles. 

 This is the albumen already referred to. Upon its quality 

 and consistence depends, in great degree, the horse's strength. 

 In it lies imbedded the fibrine of the muscles, which it sur- 

 rounds on every side, and holds in one compact mass. It is 

 the waxy substance found in green meat, making it stick to 

 the hands, sometimes with considerable force. Its quantity 

 and quality are dependent upon the vital energies, and will 

 be increased or diminished, in both these respects, as the 

 vital forces become impaired, or are improved. On the other 

 hand, its condition has an important reflex influence upon 

 the vital forces. 



When the horse is thin in flesh from bad health, or an in- 

 sufficiency of food, the character of the albumen is materially 

 changed. Il^ot o^ly does it become much less in quantity, 

 but also more sticky and thick. The fibers sink down, one 

 upon another, and adhere to ieach other to such an extent as 

 greatly to obstruct their action. The difference between 

 their freedom of movement when in a healthy condition, and 

 their retarded action when the animal's vital energies have 

 been seriously impaired, is about the same as one would 

 experience in drawing a thousand separate strings, yet all 

 together, first through oil and next through tar. It requires 

 a labored effort for the feeble or half-starved horse to move 

 the tens of thousands of muscular fibers in his body through 

 the thick, wax-like consistence which characterizes this al- 

 buminous matter when he is in such a condition. 



The color of the albumen is another important item in this 

 description. The fibrine is white, and the red tint of the flesh 

 is due entirely to the presence of the coloring matter con- 



