210 THE INTESTINES. 



can with difficulty be distinguished from inflammation of th« 

 bowels ; and, in either case, the assistance of the veterinary sur- 

 geon is required. 



Few horses are destroyed by poisonous plants in our meadows 

 Natural instinct teaches the animal to avoid the greater part of 

 those that would be injurious. 



THE INTESTINES. 



The food having been partially digested in the stomach, and 

 converted into chyme, passes through the pyloric or'flioe into the 

 intestines. 



Fig. 29. 



9 



■s / 





> 



/ 





a The commencement of the small intestines. The ducts which convey the 

 bile and the secretion from the pancreas are seen entering a little below. 

 h b The convolutions or winding of the small intestines. 



c A portion of the mesentery. 



d The small intestines, terminating in the caecum. 



e The caecum, or blind gut, with the bands running along it, puckering and 

 dividing it into numerous cells. 



/ The beginning of the colon, 

 g" g The continuation and expansion of the colon, divided, like the caecum, into 

 cells. 



A The termination of the colon in the rectum. 



i The termination of the rectum at the anus. 



The intestines of a full-grown horse are not less than ninety 

 feet in length. They are divided into the small and large intes- 

 tines ; the former of which occupy about sixty-six feet, and the 

 latter twenty-four. 



The intestines, like the stomach, are composed of three coats 

 viz., the peritoneum, the middle coat, and the mucous or villous 

 one inside of the others. 



