DENTITION ANi; DIET. i-it 



making a good supper ok tallow candles. A case is related, bj 

 Captain Cochrane, of a Russian who ate, in the course of twenty- 

 four hours, the hind-quarter of an ox, twenty pounds of fat, ind 

 drank a quantity of melted butter. He also states that he has 

 seen three gluttons consume a deer at one meal. But we need not 

 go beyond our own immediate vicinity to prove that the gorman- 

 dizing powers of both men and horses are equally extraordinary. 

 The corn-dealer's bill furnishes one illustration ; and the length- 

 ened meal which some of our young men indulge in, commencing 

 in the morning and only ending at night, completes the evidence. 

 Hence, with these facts before us, we may safely conclude that 

 errors in diet are constantly occurring, and, consequently, a great 

 many unnecessary diseases arise in consequence; therefore, we 

 recommend our readers to make an experiment in the opposite 

 direction, and ascertain how small a quantity of good food will 

 answer the purpose of nutrition. Should the quantity be insuf- 

 ficient for the animal's wants, we shall soon be made aware of the 

 fact by loss of flesh and other unmistakable signs. On the other 

 hand, the error alluded to is not so easily corrected ; for the animal 

 may die, overburdened with fat, of an acute disease, before we can 

 reduce his system. 



Conclusion. 



The reader will perceive that in the management and feeding 

 of horses there opens a fine field of observation and improvement ; 

 yet, in order to apply that unlimited power which man seems to 

 possess over his own organization and that of the inferior orders 

 of creation, he must be conversant with animal physiology ; for 

 on tins science alone do we base the problem of life. 



Now, reader, after having presented this essay for your consider- 

 ation, pray do not find fault with the stable-keeper because your 

 horse does not look fat and sleek. You had better trust to the 

 discretion of the man who, having been long in the stable busine? }, 

 is perhaps better qualified than yourself to judge of the effects of 

 food under the states of rest and exercise, and knows how to grad- 

 uate the same accordingly. We frequently have occasion to notice 

 that horses owned by stable-keepers are never so fat as the board- 

 ers — a very good proof that the latter get more than they require. 

 Some men are in the habit of ordering a given quantity, say six 

 or twelve quarts, of oats at a feed, whenever they put up, and 'he 

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