wixD. 55 



fold ; first, it gives him signal advantage in a 

 race ; and, secondly, horses thus organised require 

 less work to make them fit to start. 



The following passage on this point is worthy of 

 remark : — " When the animal powerfully exerts 

 himself, a more ample supply of pure blood is re- 

 quired to sustain the energies of life, and the 

 action of the muscles forces the blood more rapidly 

 through the veins ; hence the quick and deep 

 breathing of a horse at speed ; hence the necessity 

 of a capacious chest, in order to yield an adequate 

 supply, and the connexion of this capacity of the 

 chest with the speed and the endurance of the 

 horse ; hence the wonderful relief which the mere 

 loosening of the girths afibrds to a horse blo^^^l and 

 distressed, enabling the chest to expand, and to 

 contract to a greater extent, in order to yield more 

 purified blood ; and hence the relief aftbrded by 

 even a short period of rest, during which this ex- 

 penditure is not required, and the almost exhausted 

 energies of these organs have time to recover. 

 Hence, likewise, appears the necessity of an ample 

 chest for the accumulation of much flesh and fat ; 

 for, if a considerable portion of the blood be em- 

 ployed in the growth of the animal, and it be thus 

 rapidly changed, there must be provision for its 

 rapid purification ; and that can only be effected 

 by the increased bulk of the lungs, and the cor- 

 responding largeness of the chest to contain them.'"** 



Certain thorough-bred horses would deceive an 



* Library of Useful K/Xtuledfje, Fanners' Series, " The Horse," 

 p. 182. 



