

ORGANS ; THEIR FUNCTIONS. [BOOK I. 



together ; vis. the names, uses or offices, and powers; 

 of that infinity of small organs which lie spread 

 over most parts of the body, and belong in com- 

 mon to several of these parts in nearly an equal de- 

 gree. The large organs, having the main power 

 of carrying on the animal system, first as regards 

 digestion, secondly, those employed in the cir- 

 culation of the blood, and, thirdly, those of respi- 

 ration, are too well known to the sight and touch to 

 require explanation here ; yet are they (the heart, 

 kidneys, lungs, or lights, liver, &c.) composed or 

 made up entirely of those minor organs we mean 

 first to describe. But the precise way in which 

 these act in and upon the large ones, the great 

 share they hold in furthering the system of animal 

 life, and the eminent rank their services maintain 

 in restoring health when the system is any way 

 disordered, has not received, in the practice of 

 horse-medicine, that share of serious considera- 

 tion the importance of the subject imperiously 

 demands. To these points, then, we shall shortly 

 call the reader's undivided attention ; mean time, as 

 some hard words and cramp phrases are applied by 

 most people (writers and others) to those offices or 

 functions of the animal's organs, they stand in need 

 of previous explanation. 



19. Each kind of organ, whether small or large, 

 was designed by the great Maker of all things to 

 perform some office towards the preservation of the 

 animal in health. When such office is performed 

 properly, as ordained, the organ is said to " per- 



