When a horse is put in training, and appears to be what would usually be called in good order, that is, rather full and fleshy, and who has not been lately accustomed to a regular course of exer. cise, a purging ball is given to him, which is worked off by warm mashes. When this is over, he is exercised moderately, under warm clothing, till he breaks out into a gentle sweat, which is encouraged by continuing the exercise, and by warm clothing in the stable; when the perspiration has ceased, he is washed with tepid water and soap all over, well scraped, and rubbed till he is dry, and till the hair of the skin shines. Frequent exercise for three or four days is given to him, but not violent, nor of long duration at a time; each time he comes home after exercise, which is carried so far as to produce moisture upon the skin, he is carefully scraped, and when dry, undergoes a long-continued rubbing, his legs and pastern joints in particular, being washed in tepid wa ter and rubbed till they become dry. He is well bedded, and care is taken that the floor of the stall is much less sloped than it usually is in the common stables of England, where, for the purpose of enabling the urine to run off freely, a horse stands much higher with his fore legs than with his hind legs: hence in many cases swellings and grease appear in horses that have not thin legs, which is the usual mark of blood.

After three or four days the purging and sweating is repeated, and the same course of treatment, as to exercise and rubbing, is pursued. The food consists of oats, without hay; oats are sometimes interchanged with other grain, but as the intention is not to excite appetite, or accumulate flesh, there does not appear sufficient reason for varying the food. Moreover, the stomach requires something else beside mere nutriment; it calls for the sensation of fulness, or something approaching to it; and although this is not to be indulged in a system of training, yet the parts of the oat that do not contribute to nutriment, assist in giving this required sensation of fulness to a sufficient degree, and supercede the necessity of hay. Upon the whole, no food seems so well adapted for horse feed as oats, especially in England, where they grow fuller and larger than in this country, and where they are never used till they have lost all superfluous moisture in dry granaries. New oats in England are unnecessarily diuretic and weakening. Toward the close of the training, for the last ten days, a moderate quantity of beans, in the proportion of about one-fouth in quantity to the oats, are allowed, as being somewhat more nutritive, and somewhat more stimulating, and required by the increased exercise the horse is required to undergo. It is to be oberved, that exercise should precede food, and never be given when the horse's stomach is full. Exercise immediately after a meal always impedes digestion: this has been ascertained by direct experiment with pointer dogs

Purging and sweating are sometimes resorted to about ten days before the period of racing. But it seems to me that this should

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not take place as a matter of course, but only when the state of the horse's health appears to require it. A good jockey will easily know this, by the state of the skin, and the appearance of the eye, which are the only marks that can certainly be depended on, in conjunction with his movements during exercise.

During all this time, it is necessary that his oats should be examined and well sifted, so as to be perfectly clean; for any the slightest cause of indigestion will make a very great difference in the state of the horse's body. The water also should be attended to; if it be the water of a country containing limestone, or other earthy and saline deposits on boiling, which can be known by examining the inside of tea kettles, frequently used, the water should be boiled, and suffered to deposit its sediment, and stand to be cold. For the same reason, the racks and mangers, and the vessels out of which the horse drinks should be perfectly clean, and frequently examined with this view; for hardly any animal is so nice in these particulars as horses that have been well bred and are in full health, with all their senses in perfection.

Thorough air, and the most perfect cleanliness, is necessary in the stables. Generally where these things are not attended to, horses have defects of sight, and are consequently liable to start, to shy, and to trip, owing to the consequences of dark stables, and the pungent odour of urine permitted to remain too long.

During the whole of this time, the greatest attention is to be paid to currying, washing, brushing and rubbing the skin: if the exhalant vessels are in healthy action, and obstructions removed as far as possible, the horse will be generally healthy. His digestion also will, by this means, be greatly improved, for the stomach and the skin sympathize to a surprising degree.

When a horse has undergone this treatment for a month, and when he has been judiciously managed, the eye will appear manifestly more bright and speaking-the motions of his head will be quicker-the boundaries of the muscles will become more manifest through his skin-the step will be more elastic-and the animal more lively and playful.

It used to be the fashion to give saffron balls, with aromatics, a short time previous to the races, but it is doubtful whether any of these artificial stimulants are useful: in the intermediate time between the courses, some moderate stimulant may be exhibited, to counteract the exhaustion consequent upon great exertion, but saffron is not the substance, nor do I know of any substance that can be given for this purpose, which does not threaten to induce weakness by disordering the stomach. I should be apt to think that if any thing, a small quantity of madeira or sherry wine would answer a better purpose than any thing else; but I do not know that any experiments have been instituted; so as to give us accurate knowledge, what are the kinds of stimuli, that to a horse will stimulate without nauseating.

Every jockey, who is also by profession a trainer, has his own secret and nostrum; but it is evident to all those who understand the true principles of the animal economy, that food, air, and exercise must be given on the system here laid down, to be successful.

The training of modern boxers proceeds in much the same way; but certain notions and nostrums are admitted, which do more harm than good.

A boxer begins his course of training, first by taking a cathartic of an ounce and a half, or two ounces of Glauber's or Epsom salts, or of soda phosphorata, to which last there is no objection, when there is no disposition to hemorrhoidal affections; in which case both soda phosphorata and aloes are always interdicted by medical men. It appears to me, that generally, an emetic ought to be the first thing, worked off with chamomile tea, or any simple diluting drink. Then a cathartic, which ought not to be encou raged, as it usually is, by diluting drinks, but ought to be strong enough to stimulate, of itself, the bowels to a considerable dis charge.

The patient, is then permitted to feed and exercise moderately for three or four days, when his course of sweating commences. This is managed by taking exercise under clothing more than usual, till a profuse perspiration breaks out; when this symptom takes place, the exercise is not continued to fatigue, but the patient goes home, gets into bed, and takes weak whey, or other warm stimulating drinks to encourage the perspiration. When this is over, the common practice is not, as it ought to be, to go into a tepid bath for twenty minutes, and to have the whole body well washed and well brushed with fine soap and warm water, till the skin be perfectly cleaned from all kind of perspiration and other accumulations that stop up the pores of the exhalant vessels: the use of brushing, moreover, is not only this, but it stimulates those vessels, when they are clean, to more regular and healthy action; it invigorates after fatigue, it assists digestion by sympathy with the stomach, and it is in all respects one of the most useful parts in the whole system of training, and generally the most neglected. The Asiatics know the value of brushes, soap, and warm water; and after that, of long continued friction, until water will wet the skin, and not run off as if it were oiled, leaving the surface in the same state as if water had never been applied. There is no such thing as cleaning the skin without brushes, soap, and water. The ancients well knew this, and their constant use of flannel, not too often changed, made the system of warm bathing, brushing, and oiling, absolutely necessary to cleanliness and health, The Asiatics add that most useful practice, champooing, or kneading and pressing the muscles, so as to remove occasional obstructions by the application of a slight degree of regular pressure with the knuckles, and by pulling and stretching the joints and limbs. In Europe, these practices, so

healthy, so cleanly, so comfortable, so enlivening, do not prevail in any considerable degree; and in America, we are not only strangers to them entirely, but almost even to the luxury of a warm bath; which in Philadelphia loses half its use and half its comfort, for want of attendants, soap, brushes, and flannels. I dwell upon this subject, because the great importance of the practice is not sufficiently known or attended to.

The boxer now commences his system of diet and of exercise. He goes to bed early: he rises when the sun has cleared the air of moisture: he uses no exercise out of doors in damp or raining weather; but from the time he rises to the hour of going to bed, he is continually occupied by his regular meals, by constant exercise, and by rest for a short time in the middle of the day, when fatigue requires it; but exercise to the amount of fatigue, ought not to be undergone more than once a day; for fatigue debilitates. Exercise should be carried to the boundary line of fatigue, but not farther. When fatigue is induced, the warm bath, and friction, with or without a short sleep, should be indulged in. During the waking hours, however, no idleness, no lounging, is admissible. Walking fast, running, sparring, the poising of the body, the exercise of both hands indiscriminately, should alternate, so as to leave no time perfectly unemployed, except for an hour or two after dinner.

As to food and drink.

The usual food prescribed is beef or mutton: all young meats, all salted meats, all pork and fowl, are prohibited. In this case the opinions and practices of the moderns are opposed to those of the ancients, who, of all food, preferred pork. I think experiments ought to be instituted on this subject.

Fat is also prohibited. So is butter for the same reason. Now, there is not a point regarding nutriment better established, than that lean meat, or the lean of meat alone, will not support a man under common fatigue. Judge Cooper, in his Emporium, has accumulated the authorities to this purpose, so as to set the question at rest. Nor is mutton so nutritive as beef. Upon the whole, in the present state of our knowledge, that kind of beef, where the lean is marbled with fat, seems to afford the best and most perfect kind of animal nourishment: for variety it may be alternated with mutton, not excluding the fat: and, as I should think, upon ancient authority, occasionally with pork, provided the animal be not less than two years old, which I consider as a point not to be dispensed with in this kind of meat; and which probably occasioned the difference between the effects produced by the pork of the ancients and the pork of the moderns.

A moderate quantity of good fresh butter may be allowed therefore, but none that has undergone fire. Nor is there any reason for prohibiting eggs, if boiled soft. Hard-boiled eggs, and poached eggs, cannot be eaten with impunity.

- Vegetables are uniformly prohibited. I think this prohibition ought not to extend to a small proportion of mealy potatoes. Perhaps the acescent vegetables are properly prohibited. Too much even of potatoes would give the sensation of fulness, without a sufficiency of corresponding nutriment.

Leavened or fermented bread, is always and properly forbidden. Biscuits and rusks supply the place.

Suppers are discountenanced: there should be no meal after dinner.

All fermented liquors, such as beer, ale, and porter, should be forbidden. But the generality of trainers allow ale: it seems to me too heavy, flatulent, and narcotic. I should consider the best. beverage to be water, or wine and water, not exceeding three glasses of the very best sherry or madeira. Port is too acid and acescent. Ardent spirits too stimulating. At all events, the quantity of drink taken in the twenty-four hours should be gradually diminished, so as to use as small a quantity as is consistent with

health.

All spices, and pickles are, for the same reason, prohibited; the system being, to enable the patient, by means of nutriment, to support long-continued fatigue; but that nutriment ought to be compressed into as small a bulk as is consistent with comfortable feeling.

The training ought never to last less than two months: three are much better; so that all the changes produced, may put on the character of habits, and be assimilated to the system of animal economy, without deranging any function. These beneficial changes, if continued for a short time only, do not harmonize with the maniere d'etre, the idiosyncrasy, if I may so say of the person requiring them: but if long continued, they become a part of his mode of life, which, from habit, nature will require to be continued, so as to preserve health in the highest perfection.

During all this time, the tepid bath, with brushes and soap, should be used at least three times a week; and friction, with the flesh-brush, or flannel, every night. The tepid bath should never be continued longer than twenty minutes, else it debilitates; as is well known to persons who have the care of lunatic patients.

Purges and sweats after the first or second, should never be introduced for the mere purpose of purging and sweating. They should be called for by some appearance or indication in the state of health of the patient, before they are subsequently resorted to. At first, they are clearly indicated in all cases; because the usual mode of living in society is too full for the exercise usually taken. During the last fortnight, the whole force should be put out in some appropriate exercise, even to fatigue, and the strength supported by increasing the period of rest, and the quantity of food, if needful. For, at this period, it becomes necessary to habituate the muscles, in some degree, to the quantum of exertion they are soon to undergo.