INTRODUCTION. 5 



camivora, on the contrary, the function of relation is hmited at 

 first to the search for and sucking of the mother's milk. 



As the animal gets older its parts become more harmonious. 

 In the herbi\ora the body grows in all directions, the legs be- 

 come larger without lengthening proportionately, the head 

 elongates, the chest develops, and the belly recedes, until the 

 young has attained the form of the adult animal. This de- 

 velopment can be guided, hastened, and aided very materially 

 by judicious feeding and care on the part of man. In the 

 young carnivora the legs elongate after the other changes in 

 development have commenced. 



As the animal grows the large intestine increases relatively 

 in size, the liver and kidneys diminish, the venous system in- 

 creases, the nervous system develops relatively much less, while 

 the generative organs and the special senses become perfect with 

 complete development of all the organs, and the establishment 

 of their perfect functional activity. The points of conformation 

 and character which distinguish the male from the female 

 become marked, while in the very young they were scarcely 

 appreciable. 



In the adult or stationary period, the animals show the 

 distinctive characters of their species, race, family, and in- 

 dividuality. The bodies are harmonious, the bones are solidi- 

 fied, the organs are capable of auxiliary work, and may either 

 be used to produce force or as store-houses of latent force, in the 

 form of flesh, to be consumed and converted into force at a later 

 time. At this period the sexual organs are at their best, and 

 the sexual desire is most active. 



In the senile or period of decline, the rounded lines of 

 the beautiful adult animal disappear, the bony points of tlie 

 skeleton become prominent, the back drops down, the skin 

 becomes dry and loses its elasticity, the hairs turn white, the 

 head becomes long and pointed, the eyes sink, the muscles 

 atrophy, the tendons contract, and the bones are subject to 

 inflammations. The organs lessen in activity until they are 



