14 VENTILATION AND LIGHT. 
they may say, or we think, the practice is carried on to an 
alarming extent, and even desired by some employers. 
“Men willingly believe what they wish to be true;” and 
warmth, like darkness, has a tendency to fatten. These facts 
were thoroughly well understood by the ancients, if we may 
judge from their low, ill-built, ill-ventilated, and worse lighted 
stables—for light is as vital an essential as is fresh air. 
They preferred round barrels and glossy coats to the health 
of their horses; and, now-a-days, men who think more of 
appearances than intrinsic usefulness, foster the same prac- 
tices. It will probably always be so to a greater or less 
extent, for— 
‘¢ The tinsel glitter and the specious mien 
Delude the most ; few look behind the scene.” 
But my subject is running away with my pen. I shall have 
occasion to recur to it in the chapter on “ Condition.” 
