816 



AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 



generally found, after death, filled with nothing but air. The 

 illeum is the fleshy part of the bowels. Then come, in suc- 

 cession, the caecum, or blind gut, which is the first of the 



CUT OF THE INTESTINES. 



a The commencement of the small intestines. The biliary and pancreatic ducts 



may be seen a little below. 

 6 b The convolutions or windings of the small intestines. 



c A portion of the mesentery, a fold of serous membrane, which hangs over the 



greater part of the intestines, and is thickly inlaid with fat, designed to 



protect the included organs from cold and violence, and to facilitate their 

 ' movements. 



d The small intestines, terminating in the caecum 



e The caecum, or blind gut, with the bands running along it, pijckering and 



dividing it into numerous cells. 

 / The beginning of the colon. 

 ff g The continuation and expansion of the colon, divided, like the caecum, into 



cells, 

 h The termination of the colon in the rectum. 

 i The termination of the rectum at the anus. 



large intestines; the colon, the largest convolution of all; an.d 

 the rectum, terminating in the outlet of the anus. The 

 intestines are composed of three distinct coatings, or lay- 

 ers, namely: the outer, or peritoneal, which forms the 

 smooth, glassy investment of the contents of the abdom- 

 inal cavity in general; the middle, or muscular one, con- 

 sisting of two sets of fibers running transversely with the 



