REMARKS ON THE CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 5S9 
gorge themselves uncontrolled; and by their u being kept eight 
months in the year in a warm stable, and in an equal tempera¬ 
ture, and the other four being exposed to the noontide heat and 
midnight cold.” Hence, “ blindness, and what is vulgarly and 
stupidly called ‘ a grass cough/ ending in broken-wind or roar¬ 
ing, are produced.” 
We have extracted the above passage, containing our author’s 
own account of the evils occasioned to the body by a “ summer’s 
run at grass,” for the practical facts contained therein, and not 
with any view of subscribing to the pathological ratiocination 
on them ; that being, perhaps, rather “ more in our line than in 
his.” The evils complained of appear to arise principally from 
two causes;—from change of (and that to green) food, and from 
vicissitudes of temperature. 
In regard to change of food, and that of a succulent and relax¬ 
ing nature, from one of a dried, binding, and stimulating descrip¬ 
tion, no doubt can be entertained that the body must, under 
such a modification of diet, undergo various alterations in its 
physical constitution: letting alone change of habits and tem¬ 
perature, this of itself is sufficient to lower the animal down to a 
state approaching to that of nature from the one he has been forced 
up to by the prepared provender of the stable. Nimrod, however, 
must be reminded, that the animal machine, no more than any 
machine the work of man’s hands, can “ go for ever.” A car¬ 
riage, a watch, a steam-engine—all will wear out in time: the 
cogs of the wheels will grow round, from being square; the 
springs will grow weak ; every part will gradually wear away, 
and diminish in force, rectitude, or efficiency of action, until the 
machine no longer performs its duty, or ceases going altogether. 
The way to preserve the machine is to require from it but mode¬ 
rate steady work ; or, should we force it into extra action, to take 
care that that is not unduly long continued. We admit all that 
Nimrod asserts —“ that a horse turned out to grass for the sum¬ 
mer, and taken up full of bad flesh, the first week in August, 
cannot reasonably be expected to be in condition, and fit to go 
to hounds by the end of October, or the beginning of Novem¬ 
ber.”—“ We think ourselves lucky if we can bring a racer to the 
post, fit to run, in eight or twelve months; but a hunter is to be 
made fit to follow the hounds in as main) weeks /” This is all very 
true ; but let us ask how long these horses are to last —to live 
in the enjoyment of their useful or valuable powers. How long 
does the modern racer endure, trained as he is at two or three 
years old, and worked on without intermission ? Is it not now 
proverbial on the turf, that race-horses in general lose their speed 
and strength, and become comparatively valueless by the time 
they arrive at their sixth, or seventh, or eighth year ? And are 
VOL. v. 4 K 
