40 FIRST PRINCIPLES. 



assumes more or less the form of dry dust, and will neither 

 penetrate through nor adhere to the hairs of the pasterns. It 

 is evident that the greater the length of these hairs, the more 

 effectively will they protect the skin which is covered by them. 

 Horses of all breeds suffer little from extreme climatic heat, 

 provided that they are protected from the direct rays of the 

 sun (by, for instance, the shade of trees or by a thick roof 

 overhead), and that they are in an airy situation void of 

 adjacent objects which might impede the free circulation of 

 the surrounding atmosphere. By the expression extreme heat 

 I mean anything over 110 F. in the shade. The highest 

 atmospheric temperature I have felt was 125 F. in the shade 

 in Sindh. I have known the temperature of the air to be 

 109 F. at nine o'clock at night in Mian Mir in the Punjab. 

 In England, the temperature of the atmosphere very rarely 

 exceeds 90 F. in the shade. In confined positions or when 

 unprotected from the direct rays of the sun, and especially if 

 put to hard work, horses which are exposed to great climatic 

 heat are very susceptible to fever and even to sunstroke. 



INFLUENCE OF DAMP ON HORSES. 



Damp is peculiarly unfavourable to the well-being of horses, 

 especially when it is combined with heat. In damp hot 

 climates such as those of Lower Bengal, Lower Burma, the 

 Malabar and Coromandel coasts of India, Southern China, 

 the low-lying seaboard of Ceylon and of the Malay Peninsula, 

 and the Gold Coast successful horse-breeding and horse- 

 rearing are impossible ; for in such places there is great 

 difficulty in rearing young stock, and if they happen to 

 grow up, they will be no good. Proximity to the sea or to 

 the Equator, in itself, does not appear to have any connection 

 with this failure ; for we find that the fact of England and 

 Ireland being surrounded by the sea does not injuriously affect 

 stud operations in these countries ; and that one of the 



