OF FARRIERY. 



222 



CHAPTER XXIJ. 



DIGESTION AND INDIGESTION. 



ON DIGESTION. 



By digestion is meant, that process by 

 which the food, or certain parts of it, are con- 

 verted into a white fluid, resembling milk, 

 named chyle. To render it fit for this pro- 

 cess, which is performed by the stomach, it is 

 necessary that it should be perfectly masti- 

 cated, and mixed with saliva. Supposing 

 then that the food is of good quality, and in 

 sulHcient quantity, a defect in the organs of 

 mastication, a deficiency of saliva, or a want 

 of vital power in the stomach, must render 

 the process imperfect, and the chyle formed 

 by it imfit for the purposes for which it was 

 designed ; that is, the formation of pure blood. 

 Mastication is often rendered painful, and 

 consequently imperfect, by a defect in the 

 grinding teeth ; that is, by keen edges, or 

 sharp points being formed in the upper 

 grinders, which wound the cheeks, and some- 

 times cause deep ulcers in them. 



Horses that are constantly fed on dry food, 

 and never allowed grass, are those in which 

 this defect happens. The upper and under 

 grinders do not meet each other horizontally, 

 but have an oblique inclination inwards ; and 

 those of the upper jaw are more distant from 

 each other than the g'rinders of the under 



jaw. By this arrangement, the food as it is 

 ground, falls inward upon the tongue. 



The inside of the upper grinders, when 

 worn down nearly to the gum, as happens 

 frequently in Horses of the above description, 

 allows tlie corn to fall into the mouth, or some 

 portion of it, before it is masticated, and this 

 is generally swallowed unbroken. The Horse 

 feeling sensible of this defect, tries to throw 

 the wear upon the outer edge by an inclina- 

 tion and peculiar motion of the jaws, which 

 the French express by the phrase '' faire les 

 forces." In doing this he often wounds the 

 cheek with the upper grinder ; which in this 

 case, is always worn to a very keen edge. 

 The cheek inflames and swells, and becomes 

 still more liable to injury. In this way a 

 permanent thickening of the part takes place, 

 and not unfrequently, deep ulcers. From this 

 cause a Horse swallows a considerable por- 

 tion of his corn without chewing it ; and such 

 corn being indigestible, is always voided with 

 the dung. This defect may be remedied for 

 a time, by rasping the outer edges of the 

 upper grinders, with a concave file made for 

 the purpose. Whenever corn is found in the 

 Horse's dung, there is reason to suspect the 

 existence of this defect ; but sometimes a 

 Horse will swallow corn unchewed, merely 



