55 
AND TRAINING OF THE ENGLISH RACE-HORSE. 
Ventilation, we take it, in the modem or medical sense, 
embraces two considerations; one is, the regulation of the tempe¬ 
rature of the atmosphere of the stable; the other, the purification 
of it. By providing for a free circulation of air, it gives exit to 
that air which is obnoxious on account of being loaded with heat 
and impurities, while it admits the entrance of that which is 
cold, fresh, and pure. Most writers on this subject (and among 
them we must rank our author) do not seem to us to make a 
distinction between an atmosphere that is simply heated and 
one that is impure; and hence the ascription to one of these 
agents that which is solely attributable to the other. As far as 
stables go, however, there cannot exist a heated atmosphere with¬ 
out impurity; because the same causes which make the air 
“hot” also render it impure. But in regard to a hot-house 
this is not the case ; for that may be warmed by air passing into 
the house which is simply impregnated with heat, without con¬ 
taining a single particle of impurity. From which it follows, 
that, if our racing stables could be heated on such principles, 
and at the same time kept immaculately clean, and a free circu¬ 
lation kept up, they might be preserved “comfortably warm ,, 
without empoisoning the health of the stud. 
Our author concludes the chapter “ on ventilation” with some 
« remarks on clothing; but they are not of that character to stay 
us in our progress to chapter IV. 
^ ON THE DISTEMPER. 
Heterodoxical as the title of this chapter may appear to the 
members of the “new school,” it is perhaps the only intelligible 
phraseology Mr. Darvill could adopt, considering the description 
of persons for whom he wrote, viz. gentlemen-sportsmen, train¬ 
ers, and grooms. Veterinary surgeons, according to the tenets 
of their professional education, know of no such disease as “dis¬ 
temper” in horses: they recognise a disorder so called in dogs 
only. Mr. Blaine, it is true, has introduced the phrase into his 
work ; but, then, he has named the disorder “ Epidemic Catarr¬ 
hal Fever,” which to our minds carries no other meaning than 
catarrh attended with fever . Such language, however, would ill 
befit the cognoscenti of Newmarket; and therefore Mr. Darvill 
has made use (and in our opinion very prudently) of the present 
(to them familiar) heading, of “distemper.” As professional 
men, however, it behoves us to enquire in what sense we are or 
ought to view this medically obsolete and indefinite term. Let 
us turn to Mr. Darvili’s account: he says, “the usual symp¬ 
toms” are 
