EXPLANATION 



OF THE FRONTISPIECE. 



This accurate representation of a skeleton will be found very 

 useful. All the iinportanl parts are clearly delineaterl, and ex- 

 hibits the seat of those diseases to wli!c:h this animal is subject. 

 The mechanical conformation of the horse may also be easily 

 understood by this figure, aiid will afford much information 

 and amusement to the curious. In describing this figure we 

 will begin with 



The Head. 



The part marked 1, is a hole through which pass a nerve 

 and an artery. 2 2 2 2, The four crooked lines here delineated, 

 are considered anatomically as divisions between the bones of 

 the face, and are named Sutures. In very youtig subjects they 

 are very distinct, and by soaking the head of a foetus or very 

 young colt, the bones which they divide may be easily separated 

 from each other. 4, The orbit or socket of the eye. 5, The 

 cavity above the orbit, in which appears the coronal process or 

 a projecting part of the under jaw-bone. 7, The bone which 

 divides the above cavities, and is sometimes fractured by a 

 horse faUing on his head. 3, The angle of the under jaw-bone, 

 where the artery passes, by which the pulse is generally felt. 

 6, A protuberance on the occipital bone or back part of the 

 head, commonly termed Knoll Bone. From this part the great 

 ligament of the neck arises, which, passing down over the bones 

 of the neck, is fixed into the bones of the withers. 



Bones or Vertebra of the Neck. 



There are seven vertebrae in the horse's neck, a, the first or 

 atlas; b, the second or dentata. These vertebrae are very 

 different from the others, being capable of considerable motion; 

 the first with the head and the second with the first. In con- 

 sequence of this, they are much more liable to dislocation than 

 the other vei'tebras, and it is this injury which is commonly 

 termed a Broken Neck. In such accidents the animal is in- 

 stantly destroyed by the compression which the spinal marrow 

 receives. A considerable space may be observed between the 



