OUTLINE OF THE STRUCTURE OF THE HORSE. 27 



fibula (signifying a clasp, or buckle). The stifle-joint is formed 

 by the tibia and the femur, or thigh-bone, which is next 

 above. It is covered in front by the patella, or knee-pan. 

 The six bones of the haunches, or hips — three on each side^ — 

 complete the bones of the hind limbs. Upon the four legs, 

 which serve as posts, rests the superstructure. 



I^ext may be mentioned the bones of the head. The most 

 noteworthy of these are the superior and inferior maxillaries, 

 the upper and lower jaw-bones. In these are set the teeth : 

 24 molars, or grinders — 6 on each side, both above and below ; 

 12 incisors, or front teeth — six above and six below ; and 4 

 canine teeth, or tushes — one on each side, above and below. 



The bones of the skull are thin plates, curved so as to give 

 the head its shape, and locked together by saw-like or dove- 

 tailed edges, to prevent displacement. The principal ones, 

 from their several positions, are respectively called the frontal, 

 nasal, and occipital (eye) bone. Underneath the two former 

 are innumerable little scales of bone, some of them entirely 

 unconnected with the others, but most of them united to the 

 several bones of the head. These are so arranged as to form 

 many irregular cavities, technically designated siymses. 



On the top of the head, and at the beginning of the neck, 

 is a double and yet united bone on each side — the temporal 

 bone — to w^iich the first bone of the neck (the atlas) is at- 

 tached by that peculiar ligament, commonly known as the 

 whit-leather, which is found nowhere in the whole body ex- 

 cept here and at the top of the shoulder. It is in this liga- 

 ment that poll-evil and fistula have their origin. 



Here begins the line of the vertebrae forming the spine. 

 This consists of thirty-one bonQS, linked together by lock- 

 joints. The seven joints of the neck are called the cervical 

 vertebrae, and those of the back proper, the dorsal vertebrae. 

 The latter are eighteen in number, each having an upward 

 projection, varying in length at different parts of the back. 

 At the shoulder this projection is never less than three 

 inches, and in some horses is as much as four or five. It 

 becomes less toward the middle of the back, at which point 



