288 HOBSE POKTEAITUEE. 



those who made these studies a profession. He was as 

 delightful a companion as I ever had, and had it not been 

 for the "disjointed thoughts" that often shocked you, by 

 proving the wreck of the mind so richly stored, no more 

 fascinating one could be found in any country. 



But I find it will take up too much of our time to give 

 an account at present of the scrape he got me in. So I 

 will postpone relating it till to-morrow's nooning, as I do 

 not want to have the recollections of those days of romantic 

 youth to interfere with my understanding the subject-mat- 

 ter now before us, as I am convinced there is nothing of 

 more importance in the training of horses, than fully 

 mastering all the intricacies of sweating. 



PRECEPTOB. You do not overestimate the bearing it has 

 on the welfare of the horse, and if there is any danger that 

 the story you contemplated telling would interfere with 

 your attention, I am glad you have postponed it to another 

 time. I can easily foresee that making a companion of a 

 lunatic might result in scrapes, as there is none of us any 

 too sane when the equilibrium of the brain is disturbed, 

 which is particularly apt to be the case in that susceptible 

 period of life, from eighteen to twenty-five. In resuming 

 the conversation on sweating, I may go over ground 

 I have heretofore traveled. But though a "twice told 

 tale " may be tedious, there is no royal road to the acquisi- 

 tion of skill in any pursuit, and at the hazard of being 

 tiresome I will further illustrate the effects of the treatment. 

 I have spoken of the change the blood undergoes in its 

 passage through the lungs, and the transmission of some 

 of its constituents through the pores of the skin. There 

 is another function the skin possesses, that of assisting to 

 decarbonize the blood. There is no other way by which 

 the skin can be so completely purified as by free perspira- 

 tion. The little scales or dandruff that form are very 

 hard to remove by the currycomb or brush, in fact they 



