DIGESTION. 75 



off the excrementitions matter as well as the superfluous serum 

 of the blood : but in chills it often falls upon the mucous mem- 

 brane which lines the respiratory or air passages, causing cough, 

 sore throat, and running from the nostrils, often attended with 

 fever. The importance of the nervous system has not been 

 sufficiently attended to in the treatment of horses and cattle. 



It is only necessary at present to show how materially diges- 

 tion is influenced by it, not only in regard to the state of the 

 skin, or to impressions made upon its nerves, whether painful 

 or otherwise, but likewise as it regards the animal's mind and 

 temper. To obtain a perfect digestion, it is not sufficient to 

 supply the horse liberally with good food and water ; it is neces- 

 sary also that he should be made comfortable by being kept in 

 a suitable stable, and being properly groomed, and in every 

 respect treated with kindness. He should never be worked 

 beyond his strength or condition. A horse's capacity for exer- 

 tion or work depends not only upon his general strength, but 

 upon his habits, and upon the state of his health at the time he 

 is employed. Thus a powerful horse, from living well, and in a 

 state of idleness, may, though looking fat and sleek, be unfit for 

 a moderate journey ; or if by living in this manner his stomach 

 has been enlarged and weakened, his bowels loaded with excre- 

 ment, and consequently stretched and weakened, his liver, and 

 all the venous system, surcharged with blood, a moderate journey 

 may, under such circumstances, bring on a fatal disorder. It 

 requires but little reflection to perceive that whatever contri- 

 butes to easy digestion in ourselves will do the same in horses ; 

 and every one knows that calmness and cheerfulness of mind or 

 temper are conducive, if not absolutely necessary, to a perfect 

 digestion. Thus it is that horses which have been accustomed 

 to company and kind treatment pine and fall off in condition 

 inider different mana2;ement. Old horses that have been accus- 

 tomed to warm stables often fall off in appetite and condition 

 when placed in such as are cold. A damp stable, or letting a 

 current of air come upon a horse's head, especially if he is 

 brought in sweating from exercise, will so far chill the skin, and 

 interrupt its functions, as to cause that excrementitions matter 

 which should have been discharged by the skin to fall upon the 

 mucous membranes. Those of the lungs, or air passages, are 

 generally affected, or rather most visibly affected, as is denoted 

 by cough, dulness or watering of the eyes, and discharge from 

 the nostrils : but the mucous membrane of the stomach and 

 bowels seldom escapes uninjured, as is seen by the diminished 

 appetite, imperfect digestion, and the looseness or alteration in 

 the state of the dung which follow. 



[Shortly after the food enters the duodenum it is submitted to 

 the action of two fluids ; one furnished by the pancreas, and the 



