16 THfe PRESENT CONDITION 



soon as that operation has taken place, the food is passed 

 down to the stomach, and there it is mixed with the 

 chemical fluid called the gastric juice, a substance which 

 has the peculiar property of making soluble and dissolving 

 out the nutritious matter in the grass, and leaving behind 

 those parts which are not nutritious ; so that you have, 

 first, the mill, then a sort of chemical digester ; and then 

 the food, thus partially dissolved, is carried back by the 

 muscular contractions of the intestines into the hinder 

 parts of the body, while the soluble portions are taken up 

 into the blood. The blood is contained in a vast system 

 of pipes, spreading through the whole body, connected 

 with a force-pump, the heart, which, by its position and 

 by the contractions of its valves, keeps the blood con- 

 stantly circulating in one direction, never allowing it to 

 rest ; and then, by means of this circulation of the blood, 

 laden as it is with the products of digestion, the skin, the 

 flesh, the hair, and every other part of the body, draws 

 from it that which it wants, and every one of these organs 

 derives those materials which are necessary to enable it 

 to do its work. 



The action of each of these organs, the performance of 

 each of these various duties, involve in their operation 

 a continual absorption of the matters necessary for their 

 support, from the blood, and a constant formation of waste 

 products, which are returned to the blood, and conveyed 

 by it to the lungs and the kidneys, which are organs that 

 have allotted to them the office of extracting, separating, 

 and getting rid of these waste products ; and thus the 

 general nourishment, labour, and repair of the whole 

 machine is kept up with order and regularity. But not 

 only is it a machine which feeds and appropriates to its 

 own support the nourishment necessary to its existence 

 it is an engine for locomotive purposes. The Horse 

 s to go from one place to another; and to enable 

 it to do this, it has those strong contractile bundles of 

 imisrl'-s attached to the bones of its limbs, which are put 

 in motion by means of a sort of telegraphic apparatus 

 formed by the brain and the great spinal cord running 

 through the spine or backbone ; and to this spinal cord 

 arc attached a number of fibres termed nerves, which 

 proceed to all parts of the structure. By means of these 

 the eyes, nose, tongue, and skin all the organs of per- 

 ception transmit impressions or sensations to the brain. 



