30 ANATOMICAL CONSIDERATIONS. 



to separate for its reception ; but it immediately closes on the stranger, 

 thereby driving it lower down, when, the contractility of the fiber being 

 again aroused, it is once more driven onward, and this action is continued 

 until the food is safely lodged within the walls of the stomach. 



Few persons can comprehend the above explanation without being 

 forcibly impressed by the beauty and the nicety of the whole arrange- 

 ment. The elevation of the soft palate closes the nostrils, and at the 

 same time provides a floor for the gaping passage to the lungs. The 

 motion of the soft palate nudges the epiglottis, which lies upon it and 

 causes that cartilage to bend over the opening to the larynx. The bow- 

 ing down of the epiglottis induces the aretenoids also to stoop, thus 

 forming a safe floor to the necessitated passage. Across the chasm, now 

 rendered secure, the food is shot into the pharynx and conveyed to the 

 stomach, the whole process being accomplished in an instant, for the act 

 of swallowing provokes no sensible impediment to the continuance of 

 respiration. 



These things, however instructive or amusing they may be when 

 related, nevertheless are too little thought of; nor is the horse itself 

 sufficiently considered. Were the lessons, which its body should teach 

 mankind, properly understood, those abuses, that are at present limited 

 to no class, would instantaneously, cease to be practiced. Most people 

 of this country, however, treat the horse as though it were an original 

 inhabitant of the Enghsh climate. Rich and poor in this respect are 

 equally faulty, save that those are most to blame who, possessing wealth, 

 can command the leisure requisite for inquiry, and, being blessed with 

 ability to gratify their inclinations, have no excuse for lack of sympathy 

 in the pressure of necessity. The great error, however, consists in a 

 national carelessness about the matter. The slave is accepted as a prop- 

 erty ; its life is wasted ; its body is abused ; man sleeps happy in the 

 belief that animals were created for his use. To render them subservient 

 to his pleasure is the amount of all that he conceives to be his duty. 

 The winter's straw yard and the autumn's run are both follies — sadly 

 common, but nevertheless deserving the condemnation of all good or 

 thoughtful men. 



The animal carries about its person the sigQS which testify it once 

 roamed within a warmer climate than our northern region. The certifi- 

 cate of its origin is legibly written in the eye of the quadruped. This 

 organ mutely attests, that the temperate zone was not the birthplace of 

 its progenitors. It has long been a captive in Britain ; but the proof of 

 its proper dwelling-place no time can obKterate. The eye of the horse, 

 like that of the camel, displays a special provision, fitting the creature to 

 endure the strongest glare of a tropical sun, even when reflected from a 



