380 NAVIN ON THE HORSE. 



The stomach is composed of several different coats. The 

 outer one is only a folding of the peritoneum, a membrane 

 common to all the parts within the belly, over its outside. 

 The second is the muscular coat, which constitutes the princi- 

 pal thickness of the stomach. There is greater thickness 

 about the part which opens into the intestine than at any other 

 place. The libers of muscle run in different directions, so that 

 by their action the contents of the stomach may be turned 

 round in any and every direction. The third coat is only cel- 

 lular tissue, connecting the mucous coat with the muscular. 

 The mucous coat lines the greater part of the internal surface 

 of the stomach. For some distance from where the gullet 

 enters the stomach, a thick, skin-like substance, or membrane, 

 is spread over the internal surface of the stomach. This is 

 called the cuticular coat, and is the part to which the bots are 

 attached during the period of their growth. 



The stomach is abundantly supplied with blood-vessels, 

 which traverse every part of its substance. It is well sup- 

 plied with nerves. Many branches of what is called the sym- 

 pathetic nerve are spread through the stomach. It perhaps 

 OAves to this its extensive range of sympathy with other parts. 

 The stomach is the great organ of digestion. After the food 

 is ground up in the mouth and mixed with the saliva, it is car- 

 ried by the gullet into the stomach. It is here rolled round 

 and round, and turned from side to side, by the action of the 

 muscular coat of the stomach, and another fluid is here mixed 

 with it, called the gastric juice. The gastric juice is poured 

 into the stomach by many little vessels, whose mouths open 

 into the mucous coat. This fluid has great power of dissolving 

 such articles as the horse eats. By its action the food is con- 

 verted into a milky-looking fluid, called chyme. As fast as this 

 is formed, it is poured into the intestine. It is not until after 

 the stomach has long acted upon hard substances that they 

 are forced into the intestine. 



The diseases of the stomach are numerous and important. 



