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.

    98/596 page 64
    Adjoining the pharynx are two large spaces, called the Eu- stachian cavities, situated one on each side, and communicating by means of a tube with the internal ear. Their use is not known, but they are supposed to assist in neighing; occasionally they are full of matter in strangles and other diseases of the throat. — Ed.] CHAP. XV. THE VISCERA OF THE ABDOMEN, OR BELLY. [The abdomen of the horse is of large size, compared with man or with carnivorous animals; the nature of his food requires consi- derable volume in the intestines, and these, of course, demand a corresponding cavity for their reception. We find it almost an invariable rule, that horses with very small bellies are mcapable of much or long continued exertion. The abdomen is bounded, anteriorly, by the diaphragm, which separates it from the chest ; posteriorly, by the bones of the pelvis; superiorly, by the ribs and back bone, and their muscular coverings; laterally, by the ribs in front, and the abdominal muscles; and, mferiorly, by the abdo- minal muscles, which form their most extensive covering. On cutting into the cavity, we perceive a smooth shining membrane, called the peritoneum, which every where lines the interior of the abdomen, and is also reflected on the viscera, so that no two organs touch each other, this membrane bemg interposed between them. Its use, then, is principally to prevent friction, and to enable the almost continual motion of the bowels to be executed without injury. For this purpose it secretes a watery fluid, which, in the living animal, exists in a vaporous form, and perfectly lubricates every part it approaches. The pentoneum is composed of dense cellular membrane, is very strong, and yet extremely elastic, whereby it can accom- modate itself to the ever-varying size and disposition of the abdo- minal contents, particularly during gestation in the female. When the animal is in a standing posture, the lower part ot the abdomen is occupied by the large intestines; the apex of the caecum being about the centre, and the colon around it: above ?hem are the small intestines, which, however, sometimes in- sinuate between the large. . , • ■ ^ho otnmnrh The most important of the ^^^ommal viscera is which in the horse is of a peculiar structure and consider smaller than in any other animal of similar bulk and po^^ei It is a strong muscular cavity, capable of considemble distention as has been found on opening horses that have died of stomach
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