62 HORSES: 



considerably increased. Flesh is heavier than fat; i.e., . 

 its specific gravity is greater. 



The view has for years been forcing itself upon my 

 mind (and recent study and reflection upon past and 

 present experiences have confirmed it so unmistak- 

 ably that it has become a settled conviction) that the 

 power of the organism to withstand disease-produc- 

 ing causes from without depends upon the absence 

 of disease-producing causes within. If the latter are 

 practically avoided, man becomes practically disease- 

 proof; and it is no less true of the horse; and, 

 moreover, that in proportion to the excess of fat and 

 / water in the tissues of the body, there exists a sus- 

 ceptibility to epidemic or other diseases ; while, with 

 bodies made strong and clean with true flesh pro- 

 duced by a well-balanced regimen, we are compara- 

 tively proof against all forms of disease. 



And now comes Professor Gustave Jaeger, of Stutt- 

 gart, " who has proved," says Dr. Schlegel, in a re- 

 cent essay, " that the specific gravity of different in- 

 dividuals is very different, and that the state of 

 health of those individuals" is closely connected with 

 their specific gravity. The greater the weight of the 

 human body in comparison to the space which it oc- 

 cupies, i.e., the greater its specific gravity, the more// 

 able it is to resist epidemic diseases. Persons of a// 

 low specific gravity are taken ill from very insignifi- 

 cant causes, such as a cold, and are very susceptible 

 to contagious diseases. Such persons have usually a 

 fullness of the body, and are even corpulent, but just 

 that which gives them a great size is useless ballast, 



Digitized by Microsoft® 



