ABSORPTION OF FLUIDS BY SOLIDS. 25 



" blowing," and is in need of the prompt attendance of a 

 veterinary surgeon to treat him for congestion of the lungs. 

 In these cases of congestion from chill, the more an internal 

 organ has been weakened by severe exertion or other causes, 

 the more liable will it be to suffer. Thus we find in India that 

 chill often produces congestion of the liver ; but rarely that of 

 the lungs ; the opposite being the case in England. I may 

 explain that the climate of India, differing from that of 

 this country, is as a rule, very favourable to the well-being of 

 the organs of breathing, but is highly detrimental to that of 

 the liver. In India, acute attacks of liver disease are frequent 

 just after the rainy season, in localities where there is a 

 considerable fall in the temperature of the air at night, as in 

 places close to the hills. This tendency is increased by the 

 practice pursued by many of the native grooms, who are 

 generally but ill-provided with garments, of removing the 

 horse's clothing to use as their own bedding. It is easy then 

 to conceive how the horse gets derangement of the liver ; for 

 the cold, acting on the surface of the body, contracts the 

 superficial blood-vessels, and thereby drives the blood to the 

 internal organs. 



ABSORPTION OF FLUIDS BY SOLIDS. 



Books on physics tell us that if a solid body is placed in 

 contact with a fluid which is capable of moistening it, the fluid 

 will mount up to a certain height on the surface of the solid 

 body. If we immerse one end of a glass tube of small diameter 

 in water, we shall find that the water will rise to a much 

 greater height on the inside of the tube than on the outside 

 of it. Experiment shows that the height water is capable of 

 ascending inside a tube, varies inversely as the diameter of 

 the tube. Thus, water will rise ten times higher in a tube of 

 Y^j inch in diameter, than in one of ^ inch diameter. This 

 force, which has more power over water than over any other 



