DENTITION AND DIET 143 
for hypertrophy (which is an abnormal increase of fat or tissue), 
or the opposite, which condition is known as atrophy—a wasting 
of the same. But most frequently an overburdened stomach in- 
duce; diseases known as staggers, cerebral congestion, softening 
uf brain, ete. 
Many horse owners are continually devising means to excite the 
appotite of their horses, in order to get as much food as possible 
into their stomachs. Some men seem to think that an error in 
this direction can never occur; and should the animal refuse toe 
sonsume the abundance thus placed before him, the liberal owner 
ig apt to consider his pet sick, or think that he must have a poor 
appetite. Now, it were far better, for both man and horse if the 
former would only experiment in the opposite direction, and 
ascertain how small] a quantity a horse may subsist on. A small 
quantity of good food, well digested, answers the purpose of nu- 
trition much better than a large quantity, imperfectly so. It in 
very interesting to contemplate how efficient a little food proves 
for the promotion of health and longevity. For example, a little 
ourley and coarse fodder will suffice for the “ courser of the desert.” 
Shetland and Welsh ponies will live and grow fat on the mere 
vestiges of vegetation. The best cow in the world—the property 
of J. H. Kelly, of Cleveland, Ohio, weighing 1,350 pounds—is 
fed exclusively on hay and straw. Very poor fodder some may 
exclaim ; yet in the course of ten months the same creature yielded 
4,921 quarts of milk, and during a single month, after calving, 
she gave 620 quarts, and the least she gave during the winter 
months was 562 quarts. A pig will grow fat on smal] quantities 
cf the right kind of food, and yet lose flesh when suffered to gorge 
himself with the same. Many swine, in the vicinity of coal mines, 
consume both coal and charcoal, and little else, yet they thrive 
well. 
Evidences can be furnished going to show that both the superior 
and inferior orders of creation might subsist on much Jess foo2 
than they are in the habit of using, and without danger te them- 
selves. Shipwrecked mariners have been known to exist several 
weeks without food; and there is a man now residing in Illinois, 
who, during a period of thirty-two days, never tasted fuod. Thy 
siecping man of Rochester is another example; and a case is 
recorded in one of our medical journals showing that an individ:al 
ance jived for several months on nothing but pure water. Aa 
