154 ^i Manual of Veterinary Physiology. 



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Considerable differences exist amongst animals in the 

 consistence of the faeces ; they are moderately firm in the 

 horse, pultaceous in the ox, and very hard in the sheep. 

 These differences depend upon the amount of fluid they 

 contain. It is necessary to remember that the proportion 

 of fluid in the fasces does not depend upon the water con- 

 sumed, but rather on the character of the food, the activity 

 of intestinal peristalsis, and the energy with which absorp- 

 tion is carried out in the digestive canal. Succulent food in 

 horses produces a liquid or pultaceous motion ; other foods, 

 such as hay and chaff, have a constipating effect, the fasces 

 being small and hard ; excess of nitrogenous matter in the 

 food produces extreme foetor of the dejecta, and frequently 

 diarrhoea ; nervous excitement rapidly induces a free action 

 of the bowels, accompanied by very liquid fasces ; this latter 

 is explained by the increased production of peristaltic action. 

 The colour of the faeces in the horse is yellowish or 

 brownish-red ; they rapidly become darker on exposure to 

 the air. When the animal is grass-fed the faeces are green, 

 and when fed wholly on corn they become very yellow and 

 more like wet bran in appearance. 



The fasces of the horse are moulded into balls in the 

 single colon, an intestine where, as wo have previously 

 indicated, the most active absorption of fluid must occur, 

 for the contents becomes almost suddenly converted from a 

 liquid into a solid condition. 



The fasces of the horse are always acid, the acidity pro- 

 bably depending upon the development of some acid from 

 the carbo-hydrates of the food. 



Faeces contain, amongst the indigestible portion of the 

 ingesta, lignin, a proportion of cellulose, husks of grains, 



