180 LECTURE IV. 



horse gives ready passage to liquids, and 

 even to the fibrous part of the food. 



That animal will drink at once three or 

 four times more water than his stomach can 

 contain, which passes rapidly through his 

 intestines till it arrives at his capacious 

 caecum, where it lodges. 



He continues to eat in like manner, 

 and the surplus of food must readily pass 

 through the pylorus before it has been 

 completely digested ; on which account he 

 would waste a great deal of food, had 

 not nature contrived to produce a kind of 

 second stomach and digestion in that part 

 of the bowels called the intestinum caecum. 

 Mr. Coleman, professor at the veterinary 

 college, suffered a thirsty horse, which was 

 to be killed, to drink as much water as he 

 chose, and after six minutes, the alimen- 

 tary canal being examined, it was found 

 that the water had passed from the stomach 

 through the small intestines, a distance of 

 sixty feet, and was collected in the caecum. 



