CHAP. II.] THE THORAX, AND ABDOMEN. 85 



alteratives are the safest and most effectual remedy 

 for valuable horses, and for those which cannot be 

 spared from labour; they are indispensable in all 

 cases of vitiated blood, and where found ineffectual 

 nothing else can be of service. Bleeding is the 

 very best or the very worst auxiliary we can em- 

 ploy ; its efficacy and precise periods of utility may 

 be learnt in the sequel, (see sect. 37 — 44.), where 

 " the circulation" comes under consideration ; also 

 in the first pages of Book II., where the pulse is 

 justly made a subject of prime consideration. 



25. For the sake of being more clearly under- 

 stood, we shall, when explaining the formation 

 and functions of the horse's inside, consider it under 

 two distinct heads ; namely, 



1st. The fore part, or throat part, as it is 

 called, from its neighbourhood to the throat, 

 or gullet, See page 98 ; and 

 2d. The hinder part of him ; being his belli/, 



properly speaking, page 128, &c. 

 The contents of these parts have obtained learn- 

 ed names ; 1st. Thoracic viscera — 2d. The 

 abdominal viscera. 

 The fore part of a horse is that which lies be- 

 tween the rider's two knees, within the chest and 

 true ribs. To the farthest of these is attached, as 

 well as to the middle of the back bone, a natural 

 division of the two parts, stretched tightly across 

 his inside, like the head of a drum ; and it is also 

 fastened to his breast bone, but admits of the gullet 

 to pass through, as it does of the great vein and great 



