THE HOKSE AND ITS DISEASES. 95 



or of the brain, or of any important organ. Many horses 

 are lost for want or insufficiency of bleeding, but I never 

 knew one materially injured by the most copious ex- 

 traction of blood in the early stage of acute inflammation. 

 The horse will bear (and with advantage) the loss of 

 an almost incredible quantity of blood ; four quarts 

 taken from him, will be equal to one pound from the 

 human being. 



Digestion. 



Digestion is one of the most important processes that 

 goes on in the body, and is that wonderful power 

 whereby substances received into it lose their own 

 properties, and become endowed with those belonging to 

 the constitution in which the assimilation is carried on; 

 that this takes place within the stomach was always 

 allowed, but in what manner was till lately a matter of 

 much debate — heart putrefaction, friction, and fermen- 

 tation have successively been considered as the principal 

 agents in digestion— but Mr. Hunter first accurately 

 described the process of solution, by the agency of the 

 gastric fluid, and which theory the experiments of the 

 Abbi Spallanzani and Eeaumer have contributed to 

 strengthen. It is now, therefore, universally considered 

 that digestion is a process of solution, and is effected by 

 means of a fluid secreted within the stomach, called 

 gastric juice. The various actions of an animal body 

 produce a waste of the fluids, and even of the solids, 

 and something like a want of tone in the moving powers — 

 these are indicated by the sensations of fatigue and 

 hunger. To restore the tone of parts, rest is required, 

 and to repair the waste, food becomes necessary ; as an 

 incitement to the taking in food at proper intervals, 

 the horse is subjected to a sensation called hunger — 

 hunger does not arise from the attrition of the sides of 

 the stomach against each other, nor does it arise from 

 the action of the gastric juice upon the stomach, but it 

 appears to be brought on by the stomach sympathizing 



