DISEASES OF THE LIPS 247 



entered the small intestine, but one-fifth only was contained in the small 

 intestine and caecum, the missing two -fifths having been dissolved and 

 absorbed. There was a great excess in the fluid owing to the addition 

 of the gastric, biliary, pancreatic, and intestinal fluids. In another horse 

 killed under the same circumstances, three hours after the meal a larger 

 proportion of the solids had been absorbed, had entered the small intestine 

 and had been passed on to the caecum. After five hours only half the hay 

 supplied could be recovered from the stomach, small intestine, and caecum, 

 the other half having been either dissolved and absorbed, or transmitted 

 to the colon to be quickly ejected as excrementitious matter. Colin found 

 some remains, though small in quantity, in the stomach after even so long 

 a period as 36 or 38 hours. It would appear, then, that very soon after 

 food is ingested it in part passes through the stomach and reaches the 

 intestine and caecum, in all of which digestion is simultaneously proceeding, 

 the fluid that is added to it by the glands being least in the stomach, very 

 large in the small intestine, and immense in the caecum, and that 

 tion is taking place of the dissolved material in all these cavities. 



2. THE DIGESTIVE SYSTEM-ITS DISEASES AND 

 INJURIES 



DISEASES OF THE LIPS 



The lips may become diseased from a variety of causes. In some 

 instances the disease may be of constitutional origin, in others of a purely 

 local character. Besides common ailments, these organs are also now and 

 again the seat of specific eruptions arising in the course of contagious 

 diseases. In addition to abrasions and other injuries, they are liable to 

 suffer by exposure to such substances as lime or blistering material, used 

 on the limbs and other parts without adequate precaution having been 

 taken to prevent the animal from rubbing them with his muzzle. Vesicles 

 or blisters and erosions may in this way be produced on the outer skin, 

 making contact with dry food painful and chewing difficult. 



Vesicles produced in this way generally run into one another, causing 

 the skin to crack and ulcerate and the tissues of the lips to become swollen, 

 and in this condition their mobility is more or less impaired and food is 

 gathered with difficulty. 



Old wooden mangers, splintered by animals affected with the vice of 

 crib-biting, are sometimes responsible for sore lips, which are also induced 



