322 ' AMERICAN FAHMER'S HORSE BOOK. 



hand, a long-necked bottle will do instead ; the bottom, or 

 back end, being elevated, the contents will be readily dis- 

 charged into the rectum. A horn, or a long-necked gourd 

 is nearl}^ as convenient. Let nothing prevent' this operation 

 from being attended to, nor from being repeated until a pas- 

 sage is obtained. Whoever the person is that has charge 

 of the case, he must be fruitful in expedients. If one con- 

 venience is not to be found, he must employ the substitute 

 nearest at hand. Above all, he must see that the work is 

 not only done, but done thoroughly. 



When a discharge from the bowels has been secured, the 

 horse is safe for the present. His food should be light, and 

 if it is in the season for it, pasture alone will be the best. 

 He should have daily exercise, increasing from time to time, 

 as he grows able to bear it. For three or four days, he 

 should have as much pulverized sulphur and rosin, as he can 

 be induced to take ; four ounces of the sulphur and two of 

 the rosin, at a dose. 



Before proceeding to consider the diseases of the large in- 

 testines, it will be well to refresh our raeniory in regard to 

 the anatomy of these parts, which is well represented in 

 the last cut. The caecum, with its remarkable blind pouch, 

 appears at e; the colon, at'f gg; and the rectum between h 

 and z, the latter of which is the outlet, the anus. 



The caecum, or blind gut, holds about four gallons, and in 

 it are countless little absorbents, as it is from here that the 

 greater part of the nutritive elements of the chyle is sup- 

 posed to be transferred to the circulation. It serves as a 

 reservoir for the large quantities of water which the horse 

 drinks, and much of which passes directly to the blind pouch 

 without tarrying in the stomach or intervening small intes- 

 tines. - The colon, in which the last processes of digestion 

 are completed, is very large, filling about two-fifths of the 

 abdominal cavity. In the rectum, the last of the intestines, 

 the excrement accumulates in little balls, which receive their 

 shape and consistency from the action of the numerous little 



