114 HIGHWAYS AND HORSES. 



animals, is possessed of a large quantity of oil, and 

 when this oil is either washed out of it, dried up, 

 or evaporates, the leather perishes, since it no longer 

 has the power to resist moisture, but becomes harsh 

 and loses all its pliability and wet-withstanding 

 properties. 



Both excessive heat and excessive wet are equally 

 injurious to leather ; and one can well understand the 

 horse-keepers of the old night-coaches using oil to 

 such an excess, when one considers that the safety 

 of the coach and all on board was dependent on the 

 horses and the harness which controlled them and 

 compelled their obedience ; it was exposed not only to 

 heavy night dews, but frequently to snow, hail, and rain. 



The same writer ofoes on to sav that, " The territs, 

 buckles, and bits did not exhibit an atom of shine ; 

 as for the bits, they were thoroughly rusted all over." 

 For this last-mentioned fault there is really no excuse, 

 as, although bits may rust less quickly when oiled, 

 yet to allow them to remain rusty is only to promote 

 and encourage the act of oxidation, which, in time, 

 destroys the bit altogether. Medically considered, 

 I have often thought that a rusty bit in a horse's 

 mouth must have rather a beneficial effect, insomuch 

 as it must act on the animal's system like steel wine, 

 since steel wine is nothing more nor less than carefully- 

 prepared steel- wire plunged into water and allowed 

 to rust. In fact, all chalybeate springs are impregnated 

 with iron, or, rather, hold iron in solution ; conse- 

 quently, a bit in a horse's mouth must be as good 

 for the horse as steel wine or a chalybeate spring is 

 for a human being, or a rusty nail is when dropped 

 into the trough from which a dyspeptic canary 

 procures his daily supply of liquid. 



