riGESTlON.] 



THE HOESE, AND 



[digestion. 



in the latter stages is mixed with coagulse, is 

 observed to be passed from the nostrils. This 

 escapes by the mouth also, as well as the uose, 

 in the act of coughing. In the still more ad- 

 vanced stages, the discharge increases, and is 

 attended with au exceedingly disagreeable 

 ^inell. The hair falls off in patches, the body 

 wastes, and the complaint either degenerates 

 into farcy or glanders, or the animal sinks 

 under the disease itself. If a horse is de- 

 stroyed in the early stages, the tubercles ap- 

 pear like knots, or kernels, dispersed through 

 the substance of the lungs. They are some- 



times smaller, or larger, as the case may be; 



mostly darker, but sometimes lighter, than the 

 surrounding substance. In later stages these 

 are found to degenerate into abscesses, and 

 terminate iu universal ulceration. When 

 horses are opened at this point of the disease, 

 they are said to be rotten. 



Horses affected with consumption, may do a 

 considerable deal of slow draft work, by occa- 

 sionally giving them one of the restorative balls 

 (see List of Medicinfs) ; but a perfect cure 

 is impossible; palliatives being the ouly reme- 

 dies that can be made use of. 



CHAPTER XXXI. 



DIGESTION ; INDIGESTION 



DIGESTION. 

 By digestion is meant that process by which 

 the food, or certain parts of it, are converted 

 into a white fluid (resembling milk), named 

 chyle. To render it fit for undergoing this 

 process, which is performed by the stomach, it 

 is necessary that it should be perfectly masti- 

 cated, and mixed with saliva. Supposing, then, 

 that the food is of good quality, and in suffir 

 cient quantity, a defect in the organs of masti- 

 cation, a deficiency of saliva, or a want of vital 

 power in tlie stomach, must render the opera- 

 tion imperfect, and the chyle formed by it 

 unfit for the purpose for which it was de- 

 signed — namely, the formation of pure blood. 

 Mastication is often rendered painful, and, 

 consequently, is imperfectly performed, by a 

 defect iu the grinding teeth ; that is, by keen 

 edges, or sliarp points being formed iu the 

 upper grinders, which wound the cheeks, and 

 sometimes are the cause of ulcers being formed 

 there. 



Horses constantly fed on dry food, and 

 never allowed grass, are the most subject to 

 this, The upper and under grinders do not 

 meet each other horizontally, but have an 

 oblique inclination inwards; and the grinders 

 of the upper are more distant from each other 

 294. 



than those of the under jaw. By this arrange- 

 ment, the food, as it is grouud, falls inward 

 upon the tongue. 



The inside of the upper grinders, when 

 worn down nearly to tlie gum, as happens 

 frequently in horses of the above description, 

 allows some portions of the corn to fall into 

 the mouth before it is masticated, and this is 

 generally swallowed unbroken. The horse 

 feeling sensible of this, tries to throw the 

 wear upon the outer edge by an inclination 

 and ])eculiar motion of the jaws, which the 

 French express by the phrase ''^ /aire les 

 forces.^' In doing this he often wounds the 

 cheek with the upper grinder, which, in such 

 cases, is always worn to a very keen edge. 

 The cheek inflames and swells, and becomes 

 still more liable to injury. Iu this way a per- 

 manent thickening of the part takes place, 

 and, not unfrequently, deep ulcers. From this 

 cause a horse swallows a considerable portion 

 of his corn without chewing it ; and such corn, 

 being indigestible, is always voided with the 

 dung. For a time, this defect may be reme- 

 died, by rasping the outer edges of the upper 

 grinders with a concave file made for the pur- 

 pose. Whenever corn is found in the dung of 

 the animal, there is reason to suspect the 



