“It is a circumstance very universally remarked by masters of hounds, huntsmen, and others who are in the habit of making observations in the field, that hounds have appeared sooner blown when running on moist days during this season than usual. The cause has evidently arisen from the peculiar mildness of the weather. Whenever the atmosphere is damp and warm, it contains a less quantity of oxygen than when it is dry, clear, and bracing, and the effect on the respiratory organs of all animals when brought into active exertion is very apparent. Hounds have been observed to lap water when going to covert more freely on some occasions than others, which is also a symptom of the effect of the atmosphere. “Liebig’s very clever work may be consulted to advantage, to ascertain how and why certain causes and effects in the animal economy are produced; but as many persons who may be interested on the subject have not an opportunity of procuring it, I will introduce a few abbreviated extracts, which are most particularly connected with the effects of food and the peculiar conditions of the atmosphere. “Liebig says, ‘Two animals, which in equal times take up by means of the lungs and skin[2] unequal quantities of oxygen, consume quantities of the same nourishment which are unequal in the same ratio. [2] As hounds do not perspire through the skin, I apprehend they do not consume oxygen through that medium: hence a reason why the efforts of the lungs are so laborious when protracted exertions call them into increased action. “‘The consumption of oxygen in equal times may be expressed by the number of respirations: it is clear that in the same individual the quantity of nourishment required must vary with the force and number of the respirations. “‘A child, in whom the organs of respiration are naturally very active, requires food oftener than an adult, and bears hunger less easily. A bird deprived of food dies on the third day, while a serpent, with its sluggish respiration, can live without food three months or longer. “‘The number of respirations is less in a state of rest than during exercise or work. The quantity of food necessary in both conditions must vary in the same ratio. “‘The quantity of oxygen inspired is also affected by the temperature and density of the atmosphere. “‘It is no difficult matter in warm climates to study moderation in eating, and men can bear hunger for a long time under the Equator, but cold and hunger united very soon exhaust the body.’ “Liebig also states, ‘That the quantity of food is regulated by the number of respirations, by the temperature of the air, and by the amount of heat given off to the surrounding medium.’