132 THE STOMACH, [BOOK I. 



openings in it ; the one receiving the end of the gullet, 

 the other opening into the small gut. See it in 

 frontispiece [H — L, 26 — 29.] It lies behind the 

 midriff, inclining a little to the left, having the lungs 

 contiguous on the other side that membrane, and 

 the liver next behind or under it. This main organ 

 of digestion is but small in the horse, as compared 

 to that of any other animal, being so designed to 

 assist his neetness, but which would be impeded by 

 his receiving large quantities of food at a time, and 

 points out the reason why he requires to be fed 

 and watered frequently : the larger and more dis- 

 tended the stomach of any animal may be, the more 

 sluggish and vicious he is. As one proof of this 

 position, we formerly obtained the stomach of a 

 man which was larger than that of any other sub- 

 ject we ever saw or read of, and its possessor in 

 life had a heavy, slow, and sordid manner, together 

 with one or two other bad qualities which brought 

 him prematurely to his end. 



At the upper orifice of the stomach, a membrane, 

 nearly insensible, coming from the gullet, enters 

 it loosely, and spreading along its lower part, lines 

 about one half of it, thus defending it from acri- 

 monious or poisonous substances, as well as from 

 the farrier's " monstrous mixtures" before noticed; 

 whilst the coat of the other parts thereof consists 

 of striated muscular fibres, very sensible, and given 

 to contraction, and running transversely to those of 

 the insensible coat, a circumstance which has given 

 rise to the fanciful notion, that digestion proceeds in 



