254 
An Essay on Fat and Muscle. 
for that purpose. We have a beautiful example of this in " the 
conditioning of the hunter," which consists in giving such exercise 
and food as will, without reducing the strength of the animal, 
prevent the formation of superfluous flesh and fat. Air, exercise, 
and a proper supply of nitrogenised food, such as oats, peas, 
beans, »Scc., contain the grand secret in the art of training. But 
these articles also contain a large projiortion of starch and fatty 
matters, and jet, when in proper condition, the hunter never 
becomes fat ; and the reason is, that these substances, by the 
constant exercise which is given, are consumed in the lungs, 
whilst under different circumstances, the same horse Avith little 
exercise and little oats, being fed chiefly with straw, hay, and 
turnips — articles that do not contain a quarter part of the fat- 
tening principle of food contained in the hunter's diet — v»ould 
be found plump and fat. Here we have the normal and ab- 
normal conditions compared together, as they regard the capability 
of horses to undergo fatigue, since the well-conditioned hunter is 
capable of undergoing great exertion with very little fatigue — 
whilst the frothy lather with which the non-conditioned horse is 
covered after very little exertion, evinces undeniable inferiority. 
13. From what has been stated then, we may safely conclude 
that fat is chiefly produced from the starchy matters contained in 
the food of animals, all the excess of which, that is not consumed 
in producing animal heat, is taken back into tlie circulation and 
deposited, in the form of fat, in cells appropriated for that pur- 
pose. It would appear also that the blood-vessels have the power 
of taking back the fatly matter again into the circulation, when it 
is required ; so that one of the objects which this deposition fulfils 
is to store up, when nourishment is abundant, a supply which may 
be taken back into the system, and made use of in time of need. 
14. These accumulations are found in different parts of the 
bodies of animals of the same kind, some breeds of cattle being 
disposed to carry fat externally, and others internally, whilst in 
others it is mixed in the muscle, forming what is commonly called 
a proper mixture of fat and lean. In the races of cattle disposed 
to carry fat externally, the African ox, with a large fatty hump 
on his shoulder, and the mild zebu of India, with an immense 
lump of fat on his neck and rump, arc striking examples. Among 
sheep we have many instances of accumulations of external fat. 
Throughout Arabia and Syria, the countries over which the 
patriarchal shepherds roamed, the breeds, which are two, are 
characterised by immense accumulations of fat on their rumjis 
and tails. In one breed, we have an accumulation on the tail, 
averaging from 14 lbs. to 18 lbs., whilst the dead weight of one 
of these sheep will not amount to more than 50 lbs. or 60 lbs. 
The Cape sheep are also of the broad fat-tailed kind. These 
