This elegant little animal is used as a lap-dog, or as an attendant on the toilet or in the drawing-room. He is most affectionate to all the members of the family in which he resides; but is very snappish to strangers, whose familiarity he will seldom permit.—Brown.
Commerce, s. A game at cards.
Of this game there are two distinct methods of playing, the new and the old mode. The new way is played by any number of persons, from three to twelve, with a complete pack of 52 cards, bearing the same import as at whist, only the ace is reckoned as eleven. Every player has a certain quantity of counters, on which a fixed value is put, and each, at every fresh deal, puts down one for the stake. Sometimes the game is continued, or not finished, till one of the players has lost all the counters given at the commencement; but in order to prevent it from being spun out to an unpleasant length, or concluded too soon, it is often customary to fix the duration to a determinate number of tours, or times, so that the whole party shall deal once each completely round.
After determining the deal, the dealer, styled also the banker, shuffles the pack, which is to be cut by the left-hand player; then three cards, either altogether or one by one, at the dealer’s pleasure, are given to each person, beginning on the right hand, but none are to be turned up. If the pack prove false, or the deal wrong, or should there be a faced card, there must be a fresh deal. There are three degrees or ranks in this game. The first, which takes place of all others, is what is called the tricon, or three cards of the same denomination, similar to pair royal at cribbage; the next in rank is the sequence, or three following cards of the same suit, like tierce at piquet; and the last, the point, being the greatest number of pips on two or three cards of a suit in any one hand. As to all these parts, the higher disannuls the lower. For the old method &c. vide Hoyle.
Common, s. An open ground equally used by many persons.
Commonage, s. The right of feeding on a common.
Concave, a. Hollow, opposed to convex.
Condition, s. Quality, that by which any thing is denominated good or bad; natural quality of the mind, temper, temperament.
Condition, as regards horses, is a term conventionally well understood; but beyond the precincts of the stable, it is neither precise nor technical. The term, in common parlance, might be supposed to imply nothing more than the symptoms and appearances which usually betoken health. Thus, when a horse is in perfect health, he ought, under this view of it, to be considered as in perfect condition; and, on the contrary, when a horse is in any respect out of health, he should be considered as out of condition; that is, in a condition that neither fits him for perfect service to his owner, nor for perfect comfort to himself.
The accidental causes of this latter (morbid condition) are various; a very common one is found in injudicious feeding, both as to quality and quantity. Any sudden alteration in the articles of a horse’s diet will frequently, according to the term of horse amateurs, “throw him out of condition,” such as removing him from the grass field or the straw yard to a full allowance of dry hay and corn, with a scanty supply of water “to draw up his belly;” all which are perhaps done at once, without the smallest preparation. In these cases the alimentary canal, being hardly yet in a state of digesting capacity, suffers from the increased powers necessary to draw nutriment from substances which, although in themselves more nutritious, yet are, in this instance, less digestible than those before in use. Thence follow costiveness, heat, and thirst; as well as an unhealthy state of the coat, which stares, and feels harsh and dry, being a necessary consequence of the ordinary sympathy between the stomach and the skin. A sudden remove from a generous to a poor diet is unfavourable to condition likewise; for in such case the chyle or nutritious pabulum, from whence all the vital organs are recruited, and all the vital energies derive their vigour, cannot be separated in sufficient quantities: the blood thereby becomes deteriorated; universal absorption takes place of the softer parts, which produces lessened bulk; while a laxity of fibre in the remaining portions is productive of langour and debility. The quality of the food is also of considerable consequence to the condition. Mow-burnt hay, by exciting a partial diabetes, is very apt to “throw a horse out of condition.” Musty hay, also, and oats highly kiln-dried, have an unfavourable effect on it also. The liquid aliments should likewise be attended to in a consideration of the condition. Mineral waters are unfavourable to it in most cases; although there is reason to believe that in some morbid affections they are salutary. Sea-water may be considered in the same light, but a continued use of the brackish water found near sea-bathing places, is unfavourable to the condition of such horses as have not been accustomed to it: to which, in union with the bad care taken of them in most of the livery stables of the sea-coast bathing, I attribute the universal complaint of the ill-condition in which they so frequently return from thence. Badly ventilated stables, excess of clothing, and deprivation of water, are also frequent causes of morbid condition, as I have often witnessed: for, in some of these cases, after a course of purgatives, followed by alteratives and tonics, has failed, the more simple means of succulent food, a proper quantity of water, a well regulated but perfectly cool stable, with a free access of air, and very moderate clothing, have created an immediate change. An inordinate quantity of exertion, particularly if continued unremittingly for several days, will often produce morbid condition; and this in cases where the feeding has been, as supposed, equal to the tasks required. It is particularly likely to happen to young horses, and to such as have not been sufficiently prepared: in which cases, it is clear that the stomach, participating with the general debility, has a double task to perform in digesting a larger quantity of nutriment than usual, to make up the increased wants of the constitution; and thus the evil is increased by adding the further deterioration of this organ to the others. I know of no state of morbid condition which often proves so obstinate as this; and which is often found at last only to give way to a good salt-marsh run. Drastic purgatives, or violent remedies, as the mineral acids, when injudiciously continued, reduce the condition very quickly, and sometimes irrecoverably. Another principal cause of want of condition is the alternation of heat with cold. A sudden check to the natural or acquired heat of the body, particularly if aggravated by the evaporation of a perspiring state, and great previous exertion, as a sudden check after a severe burst with the hounds.