552 THE IMPROVED ART OF FARRIERY. 



jected by the stomach. Vomiting indeed would pro- 

 duce suffocation in a horse, as owing to the pecuUar 

 structure of the superior portion of the pharynx, the 

 food which was thrown up must necessarily drop into 

 the trachea, or windpipe. 



That part of the stomach which is not lined by cu- 

 ticular membrane is extremely vascular. It occupies 

 the posterior part, and is of the greatest importance to 

 the animal economy. 



The gastrica denter and sinister are continued in 

 this membrane. Its surface is glandular, and it se- 

 cretes the gastric juice. This juice is the principle 

 agent in digestion, and acts alike upon all animal and 

 vegetable substances that are taken into the stomach, 

 and is so powerful as even to consume a part of the 

 stomach itself after death. The mass which is pro- 

 duced by the action of the gastric juice generates a 

 fluid, which is called chyle, and which is always the 

 same in its quahty, notwithstanding it may arise from 

 a great variety of food. 



The gastric juice coagulates milk, and it must un- 

 dergo this process in the stomach before it can be 

 digested ; yet the gastric juice has no effect on animal 

 substances that are alive, and this accounts for the 

 circumstance of hots living in the stomach of the 

 horse. 



These insects attach themselves very firmly to the 

 cuticle of the stomach, or the insensible part, by two 

 hooks situated near the tail. In this situation they 

 occasion little or no inconvenience to the animal. 

 These insects appear to be insensible to pain, as even 

 the most caustic and stimulating medicines will not 

 dislodge them. 



This may in part arise from their bodies being 

 covered by a kind of hairy spiculse which prevents 



