USEFUL ANIMALS — VERY. 221 



who is forced to nurse them like children, to get 

 them home in safety, in which, however, and par- 

 ticularly in bad weather, he does not always succeed. 

 Supposing they do arrive safely at his stables, as he 

 is quite aware how they have been treated, he is 

 forced (for a time at least) to keep them in the same 

 forced and artificial state. He knows well enough 

 that by so doing he is laying the foundation for all 

 sorts of diseases ; but what is he to do ? He dares 

 not change the system, except by slow degrees ; and 

 this in a great measure he does, if he keeps any of 

 them long enough ; but probably some of them are 

 sold in two or three days after their arrival. Now 

 let me ask, what on earth is an animal in this state 

 fit for beyond being shown in a dealer's yard ? Why 

 literally nothing, till, figuratively speaking, he has 

 been taken to pieces and put together again. 



Of all the internal diseases of which the horse is 

 liable, and more particularly fat horses, inflammation 

 of the lungs is by far the most prevalent, the most 

 sudden in its commencement, the most rapid in its 

 progress, and the most fatal in its efiects. It is to 

 this disease that horses in the state and condition I 

 have mentioned are, more than any other, particularly 

 liable. Once attacked by it, unless immediately and 

 judiciously attended to, two or three days bring on 

 the crisis, which under such circumstances mostly 

 ends in death : yet do and probably will most persons 

 persevere in putting such horses to work without 

 preparation for it. By so doing, they are unjust 

 to themselves, the animal, and the dealer from whom 

 he has been purchased, who in most cases, however, 

 comes in for all the blame, whereas it rests solely 

 with the impatience, ignorance (in this particular), or 



