39 

 jnuQ; ilay a longer time in the inteftines to perforin 

 its changes : and this is actually the cafe. This be- 

 comes neceffary to keep in mind, as it ought to in- 

 fluence our condu6l in travelling, and induce us to 

 give a horfe fuch food as may prove moll nutritious 

 on a fhort flay : it fhould difpofe us, likewife, to give 

 a horfe time to digell his food when he has received 

 it, and not hurry it, immediately as it is received, 

 through the inteftines by the preffure of the mufcles, 

 fo that little nourifliment can be derived from it. 

 This alfo explains to us why phyfic in a horfe takes 

 twenty-four hours to operate, when in us it will work 

 in half an hour : the inteftines are here a very great 

 length ; nor is the horizontal pofltion of the animal 

 favourable to the paflage of their contents. The in- 

 teftines are furniftied throughout their length with 

 little velTels arifing from them, which are called 

 laical ahforbents ; and the reft of the body is furnifti- 

 ed with fimilar ones, which are called lymphatic ab' 

 forbents. Thofe of the inteftines feparate the nutri- 

 tious parts, and carry them into a canal termed the 

 thoracic du6i. The lymphatic abforbents cpUecl 

 flaids, and even folids, from all parts of the body, 

 and carry them likewife to this fame du6l, which 

 may be feen in the plate running up the back bono 

 between the two great blood veffels ; and, pafting be- 

 hind the heart, it is entering the anterior vena 

 cava, where it receives the great vein of the arm 



