INTRODUCTION. / 



tion are called into action, there can be no clanger of 

 the morsel passing onwards towards the windpipe, or 

 chance of its falling from the mouth. 



The Soft Palate. — The horse is the only animal 

 who cannot, except under the most violent excitation, 

 vomit through the mouth. This peculiarity is caused 

 by a species of curtain at the back part of the tongue, 

 which separates the mouth from the gullet. It hangs 

 down from the backward edge of the palate. There 

 is, in other animals, room between the bottom of the 

 curtain and the tongue for the food to be returned; 

 therefore, in them, whatever the stomach casts up, 

 passes through the mouth. But, in the horse, the 

 curtain forms a perfect division, and rests upon, not 

 only the back part of the tongue, but against the for- 

 ward portion of the larynx. It is so contrived that, 

 when the food has been gathered and fully masticated, 

 the morsel is, by the action of the tongue, pressed 

 against the hard palate, and is thus propelled back- 

 ward, or it is pushed against the curtain or soft palate, 

 which gives way ; but if the pressure comes on the 

 other side, the inclination of the curtain backwards 

 effectually prevents it yielding, and the contents of 

 the stomach are carried outwards through the nostrils. 

 It is not, therefore, any thing about the palate which 

 renders the act of vomition so difficult in the horse ; 

 the formation of the palate simply forbids passage by 

 the mouth. But the difficulty of vomiting in the 

 horse depends on the peculiar construction of the 

 stomach, which shall be described in the proper 

 place. The length and singular attachment of the 

 soft palate, however, prevents the horse from breath- 

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