484 



THE ANATOMY OF TIll^ HORSE 



caecum, which is about four feet long, and tcrmin.'itcs in a point, tlio wliole 

 being compared to a jelly-bag, and forming a reservoir, where the watery 

 particles of the food are absorbed, leaving the faecal matter in a compara- 

 tively solid state. Indeed this gut at once receives nearly all the water 

 which is swallowoil, it j)assing through the stomach and intestines without 



Via. 78. — The Laiiou and Smai.i. [ntrstines, Dr.TAfMiKii. 



any delay, when of course, as this sac has only one opening, it must 

 alternately receive and disgorge its contents, the valve at the entrance of 

 the ileum preventing its return into the small intestine. Tho caicum 

 occupies tho right ilanlc, and takes an oblicpie direction from above down- 

 wards and forwards. 



TliK COLOX extends from l\u> iloo ca:'cal valvo, occupying tlio right flank, 

 in an ellipdcal dh'cction to the left flank, where it ends in the rectum, and 

 thus ends very near tho point where it began, after traversing nearly tho 

 whole abdominal cavity. It is of such an enormous capacity that it will 



