INDIGESTION.] 



THE HOESE, AND 



[mDiaESTioiT. 



ought always to have. But, considering the 

 use to which horses are applied, grain becomes 

 a necessary diet ; and, if properly dispensed, is 

 the best food that can be given them. Hay, 

 when really good, and allowed in moderation, 

 is a very suitable diet, but requires to be 

 assisted with grain, in a quantity proportionate 

 to the work to be done. Some grain should 

 always be given ; as, without it, the quantity of 

 hay necessary for the support of the animal 

 would so distend the stomach, as to induce 

 gradually, by a continuance of such feeding, a 

 morbid, or depraved appetite. As it is, the 

 hay generally given, even what is considered 

 good, is so deficient in nutriment, difficult of 

 digestion, and is eaten in such immoderate 

 quantities, that the laborious exertions re- 

 quired in the muscular structure of the 

 stomach to extract what nourishment it does 

 contain, is such, as must of necessity bring on 

 a morbid or depraved appetite ; aud what is, if 

 possible, of still greater consequence, an ex- 

 hausted state of sensorial power. 



Wheaten straw, when the reed has been 

 carefully separated from it, is much better 

 fodder for horses than what is called middling, 

 or indifferent hay; but the daily quantity 

 should never exceed four or five pounds. 

 Grain must be more freely given in this case, 

 of course ; but such a diet is far better than 

 that commonly given to horses in this country. 



In France, wheaten straw is very commonly 

 used as food for horses ; and the manner the 

 owners have of distributing their diet, well de- 

 serves the imitation of the dealers in this coun- 

 try. The daily allowance is given at three differ- 

 ent times — viz., a moderate quantity early in the 

 morning, a smaller quantity at noon, and the 

 largest portion at night. It is a general prac- 

 tice, in this country, to give an immoderate 

 quantity of hay at a time. To give even bad 

 hay, to distribute the daily allowance injudi- 

 ciously, both of water and oats — to give beans 

 unbroken, and to work horses while their 

 stomachs are distended with food, much 

 evil is done, and many fatal diseases brought 

 on. So general are these practices, that we 

 meet with but few horses with stomachs in a 

 perfectly healthy condition. So numerous are 

 the degrees of morbidness of the stomach, 

 between the healthy state and that extreme 

 degree of derangement, when the appetite has 

 296 



become depraved, inordinate, and even vora- 

 cious, that it is difficult, if not impossible, to 

 bring each of them under a distinct head. It 

 will be sufficient for the purpose we have in 

 view, to notice them, as they relate to the 

 organs of respiration ; that is, to treat of those 

 diseases of the lungs and their appendages, 

 arising from a morbid conditioD of the diges- 

 tive organs. These diseases are commonly 

 known by the name of chronic cough, roaring, 

 and hroken wind. To accomplish this in a 

 manner sufficiently clear and intelligible, it is 

 necessary to give a concise description of the 

 organs of respiration, and those of digestion. 



The mouth, the tongue, the throat, and the 

 passages to the stomach and lungs, are covered 

 with cuticle, but of various degrees of thickness ; 

 so that the sensibility of the different pa^ts is 

 nicely adapted to the purposes for which they 

 are designed. These purposes are — gathering 

 the food, masticating it, moistening it with 

 saliva, and swallowing it. The first is effected 

 by the front teeth ; the second by the grinders ; 

 the saliva is separated from the blood by three 

 pair of glands, named parotid, sublingual, and 

 submaxillary. 



The latter have always been described as 

 lymphatic glands ; but there is no difficulty in 

 demonstrating that they secrete saliva, and 

 their excretory ducts may be seen near the 

 tonsils. The parotid glands pour out their 

 saliva through an opening between the second 

 and third grinder, on each side ; and the sub- 

 lingual by two small tubular papillae under the 

 tongue. It is by the motions of this organ 

 that the saliva, necessary not only to facili- 

 tate mastication and swallowing, but likewise 

 to perform a very important purpose in the 

 stomach, necessary to digestion, is produced. 



The masticated food is placed, by the motions 

 of the tongue, into the upper part of the gullet, 

 or oesophagus, which is named pharynx. The 

 pharynx is large, and capable of considerable 

 dilatation, but soon contracts into a small 

 but strong muscular tube, named oesophagus. 

 The part where the oesophagus begins, is so 

 contracted as to have the appearance of a stric- 

 ture; and it is here that the strong cuti- 

 cular, or, as it is commonly named, insensible 

 coat of the stomach, begins. When ^he food 

 gets into the pharynx, it is swallowed into the 

 oesophagus, and thence falls into the stomach, 



