iy6 FOOD. 



animals being bad feeders 1 May not such disinclination for sustenance 

 be no more than the disgust engendered by a constant absence of variety ? 

 Is there any large stable in the kingdom where one or more quadrupeds 

 are not equally notorious for being ravenous feeders ? The disinclination 

 for the necessary sustenance and the morbid desire for an excess of nutri- 

 ment are alike symptoms of deranged digestion. Some horses w^ill devour 

 large quantities of earth, — stones, worms, and all. Other animals will, 

 if not muzzled, consume the litter of their stalls, no matter how tainted 

 or filthy it may be. Strange tastes and unnatural likings are not unfre- 

 quently displayed by the inhabitants of the stable, among which, the 

 instances cited are only the most common, all such whims being declara- 

 tive of a diseased stomach. 



The stable, its management, its formation, and its food, do further 

 injury than merely to derange the digestion. Such may be its primary 

 effect; but the stomach is to the animal as the root is to the plant. 

 Through it all the nourishment is absorbed. By its healthful operation, 

 the trunk, limbs, and strength are maintained. The rootlets cannot be 

 diseased without the remotest twigs drooping and withering. So the 

 deranged digestion induced by the modern stable leads to those fearful 

 results which render life valueless; and which would terminate the 

 existence, were the event not anticipated by the oifice of the knacker. 

 Cribbing, weaving, quidding, surfeit, inflamed thorax, bowel complaints, 

 broken wind, glanders, diseases of the legs and of the feet, with the ma- 

 jority of those injuries which are complacently recognized as accidents, 

 may all be directly traced to that domestication which assumes a right 

 to dictate how a life shall exist ; the atmosphere it shall breathe ; the 

 space it shall occupy ; and the substances it shall eat. Heaven, when 

 this earth was first inhabited, did not create beings without investing 

 them with rights, which man cannot abrogate at his convenience or set 

 aside at his pleasure. 



Of late years a class of traders has sprung up who profess to sell 

 "patent foods," or nostrums, which are to be cast into the manger with 

 the corn. The economy and the marvelous effects of these secret prep- 

 arations are loudly trumpeted ; and from the numbers who now deal in 

 such articles, these persons evidently find many customers. The mix- 

 tures consist of certain seeds and spices, which, in consequence of a 

 relish being given to the monotony of manger diet, are eagerly de- 

 voured. They may even stimulate a false appetite ; but, after a time, 

 this effect will cease, and a loathing greater than the previous excite- 

 ment will succeed. It is not, therefore, with surprise that the author 

 hears of people, once very enthusiastic admirers of such additions, hav- 

 ing, .after some experience, relinquished these foreign aids to provender 



