286 THE SO-CALLED "INCAPACITATING VICES." 



tion of disease. The symptom is to this hour as general as it was in 

 previous centuries. It still delays the vehicle, after the driver is ready 

 to start : it often propels the wheels in a contrary direction to that the 

 coachmen desire they should travel : it commonly stays the wayfarer, 

 when eager to conclude his journey. At the door of the mansion, in 

 the public street and on the high road, the signs of the malady are fre- 

 quently to be witnessed. 



So it is with the indications of various disorders. The horses of the 

 existing race of proprietors are, for a life, doomed to subsist on the same 

 substances : four or five times a day, dried grass, oats, and a few beans 

 are placed before them : some have chopped straw, and, in exceptional 

 cases, prepared food; but that being only allowed for the last meul on 

 Saturday night, does not interfere with the monotony of diet. Now, a 

 sameness in the articles consumed, as medical men now recognize, dis- 

 orders the digestion; but when aided by a want of exei'cise, a total 

 absence of amusement, and an impure residence, perhaps no better 

 means could be invented to derange the tenderest radicles of being. 

 The sympathy which exists between the stomach and the skin is now 

 so universally understood that it will generate no surprise if the creat- 

 ure, thus housed, imprisoned, and sustained, should be occasionally 

 troubled with an obstinate cutaneous affection. 



Stabled horses often are the victims of an acutely sensitive condition 

 of the integument. Yet the possible existence of such a state is never 

 admitted by the groom, because the affection is unaccompanied by any 

 outward sign. There is no tenderness displayed when the hand is laid 

 upon the body. The coat looks bloomingly. The scurf is not devel- 

 oped in increased quantity. The hair does not prove loose or fall off. 

 There is nothing visible for ignorance to perceive. The animal feeds 

 well, and seems in the highest possible condition. The groom cannot, 

 therefore, believe in the presence of disease. Nevertheless, the quad- 

 ruped may acutely suffer, especially during the spring and autumn. It 

 may even, by the irritation, be provoked to gnaw large patches from the 

 sensitive covering of the body ; but the more common form of the dis- 

 ease urges the poor horse to destroy the heavy rug in which stable 

 attendants are fond of wrapping their charges, before quitting them for 

 the night. 



"What precise form the irritation assumes, it is impossible to ascertain ; 

 but no sooner is the quadruped clothed up, than it begins ta»fidget. Its 

 legs are in almost perpetual motion, and the body repeatedly leans with 

 violence against the trevise. The creature is evidently uneasy, and the 

 animal's eye watches the groom until that individual, having finished 

 his work, retires to the consolation of the adjacent public house. 



