152 ON THE STABLE, 



point called its appendix. This terminating 

 point is sometimes filled with stones of an ex- 

 traordinary magnitude. Specimens of this kind 

 have been found of eight inches diameter. 

 They are, probably, concretions of the earthy 

 particles received with the food, which, by their 

 gravity, precipitate during digestion, and take 

 up their abode in the most depending partof tlie 

 intestines. Whilst they remain stationary, they 

 occasion but little inconvenience to the animal ; 

 but if they happen to be shifted towards the 

 mouth of the gut, the consequences are gene- 

 rally fatal. 



From the size and direction of the muscles 

 of the stomach of the horse, some anatomists 

 have been induced to attribute to it the action 

 of trituration ; but this opinion is easily contro- 

 verted by taking it in a mechanical point of view, 

 for to be capable of triturating its contents, it 

 appears necessary that it should possess the fa- 

 culty of re-action, either in a lateral or a rota- 

 tory 



