222 HOUSE PORTRAITUBE. 



heartily, I would certainly rely on getting him in proper 

 condition with other agents than by dosing him with balls 

 and drenches. The reasons why I advise that Never Mind 

 should graze for half an hour, the amount of his hay 

 shortened, and grain increased, are that the stomach 

 may not be encumbered, the evacuations more pultaceous, 

 and less danger of feverish symptoms following the 

 exudation. I only mention the sweating incidentally, as 

 we will give it the fullest consideration when the time 

 comes to practice it. Physic I have hardly treated as it 

 should be, and we may as well consider now the bearing 

 it has as part of the preparation for fast work, as in the 

 future. Horse training is not the only thing it has been 

 considered important in. Had a man to be "fitted" for 

 any arduous undertaking, it was also held imperative that 

 he should follow a course that was sure to weaken, and 

 needing cordials for him to recover from the effects. 

 And not alone in athletic exercises has its use been sanc- 

 tioned ; but purging and bleeding have been practiced in 

 every department of life. The bolus and lancet depleted 

 the system, outraging nature, whose violated laws were so 

 Ij^le understood that the life currents were sapped, and 

 the tone of the stomach injured by the poisons intro- 

 duced. 



The practitioner for the human family has broken away 

 from the old practices, and increased longevity is the re- 

 sult. The course of physic prescribed by the old trainers 

 was three doses, given at intervals of from eight to four- 

 teen days. Twice a year this had to be gone through 

 with ; first, when the horse was taken up in the spring 

 after the winter's rest, and again when the season of labor 

 was completed. The first effect of physic is to act on the 

 inner surface of the stomach and bowels. This irritation 

 causes a copious secretion of a water-like fluid, derived 

 from the blood. Thus nature tries to relieve the system 



