30 THE ARMY HORSE. 



of prehension (picking up). The soft palate is a curtain sus- 

 pended between the mouth and the pharynx, attached above to 

 the palatine arch (the back part of the hard pahite) ; the lower 

 border is free and rests on the floor of the pharynx. Owing 

 to the great size of this curtain, the horse is unable to breathe 

 through his mouth. 



The tongue is a movable muscular organ, situated on the floor 

 of the mouth between the branches of the lower jaw. It is 

 the special organ of taste and at the same time assists in masti- 

 cation. 



The pharynx has been previously described. 



The esophagus^ or gullet, is a muscular tube connecting the 

 pharynx to the stomach. 



The stomach is a pear-shaped organ situated in the abdomi- 

 nal cavity, close to the diaphragm. Its internal, or mucous, 

 coat is divided into right and left portions, the left is the cutic- 

 ular portion and is continuous with the mucous membrane of 

 the esophagus, which it resembles in structure and appearance, 

 being of a pale white color. The right portion, the villous, or 

 true digestive coat, is reddish in color, soft, very vascular (filled 

 with blood vessels) and velvety looking; it contains the peptic 

 glands which secrete gastric juice. 



The capacity of the stomach of the horse (from 3 to 3^ gal- 

 lons) is small in proportion to his size. 



The intestines are divided into large and small. The small 

 intestines are continuous with the stomach, rather more than an 

 inch in diameter and about 72 feet in length. The large intes- 

 tines, measuring about 22 feet in length, extend from the termi- 

 nation of the small intestines to the anus, and may be regarded 

 as consisting of four parts, the ccecuni^ great colon., floating 

 colon.) and the rectum. 



The membranous lining of the intestines is covered Avith 

 small i^rojections called villi ^ which absorb the nourishing 

 parts of the food. The villi are more numerous in the small 

 intestines than in the large. 



The intestines are supported throughout their entire length 

 by strong bands of fibrous tissue (the mesentery) extending 

 from the backbone. 



The anus is the posterior opening of the alimentary canal 

 and lies below the root of the tail. It forms a round pro- 

 jection, which becomes less prominent with age. 



