214 THE OMENTUM. 



four layers of it. It has been supposed to have been placed be- 

 tween the intestines and the walls of the belly, in order to 

 prevent concussion and injury during the rapid movement of 

 the animal. That, however, cannot be its principal use in the 

 horse, from whom the most rapid movements are required ; for 

 in him it is unusually short, extending only to the pancreas and 

 a small portion of the colon. Being, however, thus short, the 

 horse is exempt from a very troublesome, and occasionally, fatal 

 6pecies of rupture, when a portion of the omentum penetrates 

 through some accidental opening in the covering of the belly. 



