298 THE DUODENUM. 



is perhaps a reservoir or receptacle for any fluid that may be conveyed into the 

 stomach beyond that which is sufficient for the purposes of digestion. 



THE OMENTUM, 

 Or cavil, is a doubling of the peritoneum, or rather consists of four layers of it. 

 It has been supposed to have been placed between the intestines and the walls of 

 the belly, in order to prevent concussion and injury during the rapid movement 

 of the animal. That, however, cannot be its principal use in the horse, from 

 whom the most rapid movements are required ; for in him it is unusually short, 

 extending only to the pancreas and a small portion of the colon. Being, how- 

 ever, thus short, the horse is exempt from a very troublesome and, occasionally, 

 fatal species of rupture, when a portion of the omentum penetrates through 

 some accidental opening in the covering of the belly. 



The structure of the urinary organs and the diseases to which they are ex- 

 posed will be hereafter considered. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

 THE DISEASES OF THE INTESTINES. 



These form a very important and mysterious class of ailments. They will 

 be considered in the order in which the various contents of the abdomen have 

 been described. 



THE DUODENUM. 



This intestine is subject to many more diseases than are included in the present 

 imperfect veterinary nosology. The passage of the food through it has been 

 impeded by stricture. A singular case is related by Mr. Tombs:— "An aged 

 horse was taken suddenly ill. He lay down, rolled upon his back, and perspired 

 profusely, with a pulse quick and hard ; presently he became sick, and the con- 

 tents of the stomach were voided through the mouth and nostrils. Blood-letting, 

 purgatives, fomentations, &c. were resorted to, but in sixteen hours after the 

 first attack the horse died. The stomach was distended with food, and there 

 was a complete stricture of the duodenum, three inches posterior to the entrance 

 of the hepatic duct. The portion of the intestine anterior to the stricture was 

 distended and in a gangrenous state *." 



Mr. Dickens records a somewhat similar case. " A horse was attacked by 

 apparent colic. Proper treatment was adopted, and he got seemingly well. 

 Nine days afterwards the apparent colic returned. He threw himself down, 

 rolled upon his back, beating his chest with his fore feet, or sitting upon his 

 haunches like a dog. All possible remedial measures were adopted, but he died 

 thirty-six hours after the second attack. At the distance of ten inches from 

 the stomach was a stricture which would scarcely admit of the passage of a 

 tobacco-pipe, and about which were marks of mechanical injury, as if from a 

 nail or other hard substance. The anterior portion of the intestines was strangely 

 distended t. 



It has been perforated by bots. Mr. Brewer describes a case the symptoms 

 of which were similar to those already related. « On examining the patient 

 atter death, the intestines were found to be altogether free from disease, except 

 * Votermarian, vol. viii. p. 329. t Ibid. vol. x. p. £53. 



