157 
]iABII<:S AND DISTEMPKH. 
virtues and beautiful proportions of the Arab horse. Why, sir, 
they fall into the shade by the side of those of our own breed. 
Take form—which is adaptation of certain parts to purposes re¬ 
quired—action, temper, power, and speed, as well as general use¬ 
fulness—they are all in favour of the English horse. You will 
have seen in the Journal des Haras,” of October last, the chal¬ 
lenge accepted by my friend, Baron Biel, the Sir Charles Bun- 
bury of 5Iecklenburgh, to decide this point with Prince Puckler- 
Muskau. High odds against the Prince coming to the post, and 
still higher on the Baron, if he does ! I can honestly say, that 
although I once gave £500 for one, for another person, I would not 
give £50 for the best Arab I ever saw, for my own riding. But 
we must look into the Racing Calendar for the triumph of English 
blood, where we shall find 18 lbs. given by horses of the year to 
half-bred Arabs, and 36 lbs. to those of pure Arab blood. Of 
course, I allude to Goodwood. On the well known principle, that 
half the goodness of horses goes in at their mouths, our superior 
method of rearing and keeping has much to do with our superiority 
on the turf and in the field. 
I am sorry to find that the use of the stethescope to mares, for 
the purpose of ascertaining pregnancy, is likely to be abandoned, 
from the danger of it; still, the same objection does not apply to 
the benefit of auscultation to horses. In my letters on the condi¬ 
tion of hunters, I state an instance of my getting rid of what proved 
to be a good horse for a trifle on the evening of a fine day’s sport, 
supposing, from what was considered the violent beating of his 
heart, that he must die. It proved to be the action of the abdo¬ 
minal muscles that caused the dreaded noise, and which fact could 
have been ascertained by the stethescope, if not by the application 
of the unassisted ear. 
A friend of mine, who takes much pains with his hunters in the 
summer, and is well rewarded for it, uses tan, instead of straw, 
for bedding, in their loose boxes. He finds it better for the feet than 
straw. Not having tried it, I cannot offer an opinion on its merits. 
Hydrophobia .—The eyes of the public are upon yourself and 
your profession, watching for a remedy for, if not a release from, one 
of the greatest terrors by which human nature is not only afflicted, 
but haunted; and sportsmen have not given up the hope, that a 
successful treatment of distemper, if not an absolute prevention 
of it, may be found. As regards distemper, I am greatly disposed 
to believe that, if it were possible to diet a young dog so lar as to 
prevent his picking up rubbish, and such-like indigestible matter, 
lie would not be in mucli danger of being attacked by distemper ; 
and if occasionally physicked when well, he would generalIv get 
through it when attacked. It is a curious fact that, on several fox- 
VOL XIII. V 
