OENTITION AND DIET. 143 
making a good supper on tallow candles. A case is related, by 
Captain CocHRANE, of a Russian who ate, in the course of twenty- 
four hours, tne hind-quarter of an ox, twenty poands of fat, and 
drank a quantity cf melted butter. He also states that he has 
seen three gluttons consume a deer at one meal. But we need not 
go beyond our own immediate vicinity to prove that the gorman- 
dizing powers of both men and horses are equally extraordinary. 
Lhe corn-dealer’s bill furnishes one illustration; and the length- 
ened meal which some of our young men indulge in, commencing 
in the morning and only ending at night, completes the evidence. 
Hence, with these facts before us, we may safely conclude that 
errors in diet are constantly occurring, and, consequently, a great 
many unnecessury diseases arise in consequence; therefore, we 
recommend our readers to make an experiment in the opposite 
lirection, and ascertain how small a quantity of good food will 
answer the purpose of nutrition. Should the quantity be insuf- 
cient for the animal’s wants, we shall soon be made aware of the 
fact by loss of flesh and other unmistakable signs. On the other 
nan, the error alluded to is not so easily corrected ; for the animal 
may die, overburdened with fat, of an acute disease, before we can 
reduce his system. 
CoNCLUSION. 
The reader will perceive that in the management and feeding 
of horses there opens a fine field of observation and improvement; 
yet, in order to apply that unlimited power which man seems to 
possess over his own organization and that of the inferior orders 
of creation, he must be conversant with animal physiology; for 
pn this science alone do we base the problem of life. 
Now, reader, after having presented this essay for your consider- 
ation, pray do not find fauit with the stable-keeper because your 
horse does not look fat and sleek. You had better trust tu the 
discretion of the man who, having been long in the stable businees, 
is perhaps better qualified than yourself to judge of the effects of 
food under the states of rest and exercise, and knows how to grad- 
uate the same accordingly. We frequently have occasion to notice 
that horses owned by stable-keepers are never so fat as the board- 
ers—a very good proof that the latter get more than they require, 
Some men are in the habit of ordering a given quantity, say six 
or twelve quarts, of oats at a feed, whenever they put up, and ‘he 
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