142 DADD'S VETERINARY MEDICINE AND SURGEK*. 



amount of fodder over and above what they actually require, 

 and much more than they really need. The surplus is often stored 

 up in the form of fat, and this induces acute diseases, and they die 

 of too much food and care. It is verv rare that we have occasion 

 to recommend a man to feed his horse more liberally, but almost 

 always the reverse. Starvation is said to be the cause for many 

 equine diseases ; but, so far as our experience goes, such cases are, 

 n this country, very rare. We conceive the term starvation 1o De 

 a libel upon civilization ; and so unfrequent is its application among 

 a nation of husbandmen, that it is omitted in our dictionaries. A 

 man on a barren rock, or a horse in the deserts of Arabia, might 

 probably starve ; but the idea of the latter starving in the vicinity 

 of a well-stocked barn or stable, within striking distance of a land 

 of plenty, seems to us a very absurd conclusion. There are enough 

 horses to be found dressed up in the garb of starvation, having 

 tight skins, prominent ribs, and a cadaverous countenance, living, 

 yet half dead. But they know nothing of the " famine in Egypt ;" 

 they get not only enough, but too much of the same kind. They 

 probably require a change in diet, or else they are confirmed dys- 

 peptics, laboring under a chronic form of indigestion ; and if such 

 should be the case, quantity is objectionable, and good quality more 

 desirable. The stomach, however, is not at fault, its function being 

 deranged. Or they probably get enough, and perhaps too much, 

 for a weak stomach ; hence loss of flesh, etc. 



Some men are in the habit of bleeding their horses every spring. 

 This is done in view of reducing fat and flesh, the subjects being 

 humory (plethoric), their systems abounding in highly carbonized 

 blood, which is proof positive that the same have been overfed. 

 The racer, before he can perform a feat of speed, must be prepared, 

 as the saying is. This implies bleeding and physicking. Some 

 works on farriery lay down regular rules for putting a horse in 

 racing condition, and the remedies are fleam, physic, and bran, 

 proof positive that such animals have had too bounteous a supply 

 of nutriment. 



Some horses — and the same is true of man — grow poor in con- 

 sequence of having to carry about a juvenile restaurant within their 

 digestive organs. They probably become exhausted, or plethoric, 

 as the case may be, in consequence of an overburdened stomach. 

 A stomach overburdened reacts on the nervous system, deranges 

 the physiological condition of the subject, and lays the foundation 



