CHAPTER VI. 
THE CHEST AND ITS CONTENTS—THEIR ACCIDENTS AND THEIR DISEASES. 
CONGESTION IN THE FIELD. 
Ir is a dangerous thing to trust a dumb animal to the guidance of an 
ignorant man; such a person is dangerous because he does not understand 
that certain preparation adapts vitality to particular usages. A racer 
may be a mysterious creature, about which he dares to think nothing, 
A HORSE PROSTRATE FROM BEING OVERRIDDEN. 
excepting that it is a horse, very beautiful and very fleet; a hunter, 
in his notion, is any horse running after hounds; he takes the stable 
favorite out for a morning canter, crosses the hunt, and immediately, 
with no thought of harm, joins the field. For the first few acres a very 
ungentlemanly person may, in a very gruff voice, request him to “hold 
hard and not to ride over the dogs;” but the first three fields passed, 
there is no need of such acaution. The horse, with that perfect aban- 
donment of self which makes its will its master’s choice, and converts 
the rider’s pleasure into its delight, strains every nerve ; its head is pro- 
truded and its legs outstretched ; it struggles hard, but can make no 
(121) 
