22 COMPENDIUM OF THE VETERIXARY ART. 



gall, is not wanted; therefore Nature has pro- 

 vided a reseiToir, the gall-bladder ; for as the 

 bile is constantly forminn; by the liver, so would 

 it be as constantly flowing into the first intes- 

 tine, were it not for the gall-bladder, which 

 would have occasioned a great waste of this 

 useful fluid. Daring the time of digestion, 

 the food is shut up in the stomach, the ptflorus 

 being closed, and the first intestine empty. 

 The orifice of the duct which conveys the bile 

 into this intestine, being without its usual sti- 

 mulus, the digested food, becomes torpid ; and, 

 as the action of the whole duct depends upon 

 its orifice being stimulated, the bile, instead 

 of passing through it, flows into the gall- 

 bladder, where it remains until the digestive 

 process is so far completed, that the food 

 begins to fliow from the stomach into the intes- 

 tine. The biliary duct is then stimulated to 

 action; the gall-bladder partakes of the irri- 

 tation, and, assisted by the pressure of the 

 distended intestine, contracts upon its con- 

 tents, and forces the bile through the duct, 

 into the intestine, where it mingles with the 

 digested food, and causes a separation of the 

 chyle, or nutritious parts. 



It nuist be obvious, that, as the horse is 



