A compendium of the veterinary art : containing plain and concise observations on the construction and management of the stable ... the structure and economy of the horse ... a copious materia medica and pharmacopœia / by James White.

  • White, James, -1825
Date:
1842
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A compendium of the veterinary art : containing plain and concise observations on the construction and management of the stable ... the structure and economy of the horse ... a copious materia medica and pharmacopœia / by James White. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Glasgow Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Glasgow Library.

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    lonn-, and larger at one end than the other. Its colour is exter- nally blue; but, when cut into, is the same as venous blood, of which it seems filled. In its structure, it appears to consist of numerous cells. Its use has long been a subject of difficulty and dispute with physiologists; but it is now supposed to act as a reservoir for superfluous fluid. It has been removed from living animals, without subjecting them afterwards to apparent incon- venience; consequently, its purpose cannot be of vital impor- tance. — Ed.] CHAP. XVI. ON DIGESTION. [The horse is a vegetable feeder; in a state of nature his food is confined to the grass of the field; and although in a domesticated state he largely subsists on nourishment in a more concentrated form, such as grain, yet it is impossible to make him live on animal food; his teeth, his stomach and intestines, are all adapted for the comminution and digestion of vegetables: the former are broad, for the purpose of grinding the food as in a mill; and the intestines are bulky, so as to contain a large quantity of food. The horse at grass is almost constantly feedmg; he does not, like the ox, gather together large tufts of grass, but he takes a short bite, and delights in a sweet herbage. The manner m which he gathers his food is worthy of notice: he does not bite it off with his teeth, but having closely embraced a short bite between the incisor teeth or nippers, he pulls it off by making a slight motion of the head; this is the only duty of these teeth, for'the tongue immediately passes on the food to the molar teeth, between which it is ground as in a mill. The under molar teeth do not extend so wide as the upper, but by the lateral motion of the jaws a grinding process is eff'ected. During the time the food is thus being masticated, an abundant supply of saliva is furnished by the various salivary glands, and the soft bolus is then passed into the gullet by the tongue. By the muscles of the gullet or pharynx the food is passed into the oesophagus, by the muscular coat of which it is forced into the stomach. In swallowing liquids a vacuum is formed in the mouth, and the water is thus sucked in, the tongue forming a sort ot channeJ for its passage. In this operation the lips are surrounded witli water, and the air carefully excluded. _ When grain forms the diet of the animal, the nippers have very little to do; they merely collect the food, which is transferred to
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