WATER. 281 



SIXTH CHAPTER. 



WATER. 



Thirst is a compound sensation. There are pain and a 

 desire for that which is known to remove the pain. The two 

 co-exist, but the pain always precedes the desire. The sen- 

 sation in ordinary circumstances is governed by the wants of 

 the body. Thirst depends not upon a particular state of any 

 one part, but upon a particular state of all parts, to whose wel- 

 fare fluid is necessary. Water }$ consumed in almost every 

 living process. Whenever a new supply is wanted, a painful 

 sensation arises which the animal hastens to relieve. The 

 pain does not cease till water has been taken in sufficient 

 quantity to meet the internal demand. If fluid can not be ob- 

 tained, the sensation, at first only a slight uneasiness, becomes 

 more vivid, and gradually proceeds to intense torture. Except 

 by accident, the thirst never acquires all the intensity of which 

 it is capable. But water is too often withheld till the desire 

 becomes very strong and painful. It is permitted to exist so 

 long that, the thirst can not be allayed at once, and by the 

 ordinary means. It is several minutes, possibly some hours, 

 before all parts of the body can be supplied with that which 

 they have so long and so urgently demanded. Thirst, there- 

 fore, continues for a good while after the stomach and bowels 

 have received sufficient to supply all the system. . The horse 

 continues to drink, however, until the pain of thirst is some- 

 what lost in the pain of distension. Very often he takes so 

 much as to hurt himself. When the horse has water always 

 before him he never does this. But it is still doubtful whether 

 all horses should have water as they please to take it. 



Thirst makes a horse refuse his food, and makes him slug- 

 gish ; I am not sure if it produces any actual debility ; yet in 

 many cases it comes to the same thing. If he be unwilling 

 to go, a race may be lost as certainly as if he were unable to 

 go. When the pain of thirst becomes very intense, the horse 

 becomes unmanageable at the sight of water. Be will bolt 



