382 NAVIN ON THE HOESE. 



chyle. This is the part taken up by the glands to build up 

 and sustain the body. The other is of a yellowish appearance, 

 and passes on to be thrown out of the bowels as excrement, 

 or dung, 



TJw large intestine is divided into three parts, called the 

 ccecum, or blind gut, the colon, and the rectum, or straight gut. 



The ccecum is a large pouch which extends backward from 

 where the small gut enters it. It is situated in the lower part 

 of the belly, obliquely from the left to the right. The caecum, 

 like the colon, is drawn into smaller sacks by bands arranged 

 along it. It holds about four gallons. It is known that the 

 horse drinks more than his stomach can hold. Xature has 

 provided this gut as a sort of water reservoir for the horse. 

 As the horse drinks, the water does not stop in the stomach, 

 but passes rapidly into and through the small gut into the cae- 

 cum, where it remains to supply the system. It is sometimes 

 called the water stomach. It is very valuable to the horse, 

 and is one of the wisest of nature's provision's. 



The colon is small where it starts, but soon expands, or 

 widens, into a very great size. It has the same puckered ap- 

 pearance of the caecum. It occupies the greater part of the 

 lower portion of the belly. In its course, starting from far 

 back in the right side of the belly, it passes forward to the 

 diaphragm, where it turns irregularly, and passes back on the 

 left side of the belly, where it twists round like the letter S, 

 and then passes forward and again crosses the spine ; it then 

 continues back some distance, and again crosses the belly, con- 

 stituting what is called the transverse colon. It then proceeds 

 back again, forming the single colon, and terminates in the 

 rectum, or straight gut. 



The remaining portion of the food, after having passed 

 through the small gut, passes on into the colon. Here what- 

 ever may be left in it fit for supplying the system is taken up, 

 and the remainder, with much worn-out matter of the sys- 

 tem, is passed on into the rectum. 



