PRACTICAL HINTS. 361 



" Horseback riding, as we have seen, is one of the most ener- 

 getic modifiers of the circulation ; it distributes the blood equally 

 to every part of the capillary net-work, giving to each part its 

 due proportion, by maintaining a due tension in every part by 

 equalizing the temperature ; it prevents equally ansemia and hy- 

 persemia, and sanguineous stagnation, by the impulsion which it 

 gives to the circulatory phenomena, and aids nutrition by the ac- 

 celeration of the respiratory and digestive phenomena. It is by 

 its effect upon the reactions of the blood to the nervous system 

 that horseback riding produces such a happy influence. 



" The effect of horseback riding upon the functions of the sys- 

 tem, is especially remarkable upon that of digestion. It stimu- 

 lates the appetite, excites and perfects digestion, favors absorp- 

 tion in fact, to use a trivial expression, ' it makes the bits go 

 down/ These are not the only results of the new energy im- 

 parted to the functions which we have studied, all of which con- 

 cur in the accomplishment of this special one ; it exercises a special 

 influence upon the muscular fibre of the coats of the stomach and 

 the intestines. These viscera may be considered as fairly sus- 

 pended in the abdominal cavity, where they are barely held and 

 limited in their movements by the folds of the peritoneum. Each 

 shock from the horse shakes them and makes them roll, as it were, 

 upon each other, and causes the changes in the relations of the 

 convolutions of the intestines. These shocks and knocks and rub- 

 bings act as a mechanical excitant upon the muscular fibre, which 

 in consequence contracts with more energy, preserving, however, 

 the peculiar character of the fibre-cells ; that is, of contracting 

 slowly and successively ; the action of the fibre being increased 

 and tlie peristaltic contractions acquiring more power, there re- 

 sults from it a more intimate mixture of the juices and aliments 

 in the stomach, a more perfect chymification of the food, and a 

 more prompt and complete absorption of matters already digested ; 

 and, lastly, all those which have as yet escaped the process are 

 brought into the portions of the intestines where their metamor- 

 phosis is effected." 



