STRUCTURE OF THE SHEEP. 



BY W. C. SPOONER, 



VETERINARY BDRGEON, LONDON. 



CHAPTER XV. 



GENERAL VIEW OF THE STRUCTURE OP THE SHEEP— SKELETON 

 BONES OF THE HEAD— BONES OF THE BODY— BONES OF THE FORE 

 EXTREMITIES— THE FOOT— BIFLEX CANAL— THE HIND EXTREMI- 

 TIES—MUSCLES OR FLESH— BRAIN AND NERVES— ORGANS OF MAS- 

 TICATION, &c.— ORGANS OF DIGESTION— THE URINARY AND GENE- 

 RATIVE ORGANS— CONTENTS OP THE CHEST— CIRCULATION OF 

 THE BLOOD— RESPIRATION AND ITS EFFECTS. 



GENERAL VIEW OF THE STRUCTURE OF THE SHEEP. 



The body of the sheep resembles, in most respects, that 

 of the OX ; with a somewhat less degree of nervous energy, 

 it possesses a greater capability of enduring the extremes of 

 cold and heat, and still stronger digestive organs. Much of 

 the nervous energy is, indeed, expended on these parts, and a 

 diminished degree is possessed by the organs of locomotion 

 and sensation, in which respect both the ox and the sheep 

 differ considerably from the horse. 



The body of the sheep, in common with other animals, is 

 composed of solids and fluids, the latter exceeding the former 

 in weight in the proportion of six or eight to one. To the 

 solids, however, is owing the organization of the frame, for 

 they surround and contain the fluids. Late anatomists con- 

 sider that animals are composed of three forms of tissues, 

 which they have denominated the fibrous, the lamellar, and ' 

 the globular. The two former are exemplified in the struc- 

 ture of the cellular substance, which composes the greatest 

 proportion of the animal fabric : the fibrous is characteristic 

 at the muscular and ligamentous structures ; the fibrous 



