66 HOESE MANAGEMENT IN INDIA. 



taken up by the minute vessels, called absorbents, that 

 line the interior of the stomach and intestines, and is 

 conveyed into the blood, which ramifies through the 

 various tissues of the body, and which supplies them 

 with materials for repair. Thus, we see that the blood 

 acts as the vehicle for removing the products resulting 

 from the waste of tissue, and also for furnishing the 

 elements required in the building up of new structures. 

 Appetite. Appetite serves two purposes (1) When 

 the system requires new elements for repair, it prompts 

 the animal to eat, so as to obtain them from his food. 

 But, in order to avoid excess, the process of feeding 

 should be carried on slowly. On this subject, Dr. Car- 

 penter remarks : " To eat when we are hungry, is an 

 evidently natural disposition ; but to eat as long as we 

 are hungry, may not always be prudent. Since the 

 feeling of hunger does not depend so much upon the 

 state of fulness or emptiness of the stomach, as upon 

 the condition of the general system, it appears evident 

 that the ingestion of food cannot at once produce the 

 effect of dissipating it, though it will do so after a short 

 time ; so that, if we eat with undue rapidity, we may 

 continue swallowing food long after we have taken as 

 much as will really be required for the wants of the 

 system ; and every superfluous particle is not merely 

 useless, but injurious." These observations apply 

 equally well to horses as they do to ourselves." (2) 

 Appetite guides the animal in the selection of food suit- 

 able for the repair of the waste that is going on at the 

 time. As a general rule, when a horse's powers are 

 fully taxed, he should be allowed as much corn and hay 

 as he chooses to eat, provided always, they are both of 



