578 FEEDING HORSES AND HOUNDS. 
nished by water being presented immediately before or after feed- 
ing ; a custom prevalent at inns, but one which cannot be too 
scrupulously avoided. 
****** 
When taking into consideration the subject of feeding hounds, it 
must be observed that the canine species partake of a twofold 
nature : they are partly carnivorous, and partly graminivorous ; the 
latter condition being possibly, in some measure, the effect of 
domestication. The constituent properties of bones may be 
employed as food for hounds, the element of which is gelatine ; but 
it is said to be incapable of conversion into blood. How bones 
afford nourishment physiologists do not appear to have discovered; 
nevertheless they have determined that the constituents of certain 
kinds of food possess the means of supplying different functions of 
the animal economy ; some through the circulation of the blood to 
form muscle, fat, and various tissues; others affording nourishment 
to the liver, and augmenting the secretions of bile, and others 
acting on the urinary organs ; some have also a decided effect upon 
the functions of respiration. Animals which feed entirely on grain 
generate more bile than the carnivora; it is formed from their food. 
This is worthy of attention where kennel lameness exists, as a 
deficiency of bile generally prevails where that malady rages. 
The presence of soda is necessary to the formation of bile ; and it 
has in some cases been administered as a remedy for kennel 
lameness with partial success. Soda is stated by chemists to be 
formed from the food of graminivorous animals; and it is well 
known to all those who have seen any thing of kennel lameness, 
that it is necessary to diminish the quantity of flesh, and supply 
the afflicted hounds with more pudding. This malady has been a 
very troublesome one in many establishments, although it does not 
appear to be so bad as formerly; and with careful investigation 
into its various causes there appears to be little doubt that it may 
be altogether exterminated, or remedies found for its cure. No- 
thing will tend so effectually to these purposes as careful dissec- 
tions of such as may be afflicted with it, and food given to their 
survivors most likely to counteract the symptoms which, on post 
mortem examinations, may be present. Nothing has hitherto been 
discovered equal to oatmeal, with a proportion of horse-flesh, as 
the ordinary food of hounds; and, if properly prepared, perhaps no 
other grain will be found cheaper: but on this head so much 
depends on the boiling of it. The starch contained in the oat is 
one of the principal sources from which nutriment is derived : the 
more, therefore, the oatmeal is boiled, the greater quantity of that 
nutritive element is produced ; and it is on this point that the 
