604 
AN ESSAY ON FAT AND MUSCLE. 
and yet when in proper condition, the hunter never becomes fat. 
The reason is, that these substances, by the constant exercise 
which is given, are consumed in the lungs, while, under different 
circumstances, the same horse with little exercise and little oats, 
being fed chiefly with straw, hay, and turnips — articles that do 
not contain a quarter part of the fattening principle of food con- 
tained in the hunter’s diet — would be found plump and fat. Here 
we have the normal and abnormal 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 — while the frothy lather with which the 
non-conditioned horse is covered after very little exertion, evinces 
undeniable inferiority. 
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 the circulation, and depo- 
sited, in the form of fat, in cells appropriated for that purpose. It 
would appear also that the bloodvessels have the power of taking 
back the fatty 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 that may be taken back 
into the system, and made use of in time of need. 
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, while 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, are striking examples. Among sheep we 
have many instances of accumulations of external fat. Through- 
out 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 rumps and tails. In one 
breed, we have an accumulation on the tail, averaging from 141bs. 
to 181bs., while the dead weight of one of these sheep will not 
amount to more than 501bs. or 601bs. The Cape sheep are also of 
the broad fat-tailed kind. These animals have little or no internal 
fat, it being chiefly collected on their rumps and tails. Climate 
must have some influence in producing these characteristics, since 
the very women are distinguished at the Cape for their prodigious 
fatty rumps. In our own country, examples of external fat are 
particularly seen in the once-famed Dishley breed of cattle, which 
have an accumulation of fat spreading itself over the rump. There 
