VETERINARY MEDICINE. 



DISEASES OF THE DIGESTIVE ORGANS. * 



Second in importance to pulmonary complaints in solipeds ; equal in 

 ruminants. Extent of digestive organs and character of food, in carnivora, 

 herbivora, and omnivora. Ruminant's stomachs. Gastric fermentation. 

 Foreign bodies. Torpor. Unwholesome fodder. 



In the horse these maladies are only second in importance to 

 those of the respiratory organs, while in ruminants they are 

 equally frequent and important. The varying susceptibility of 

 the digestive organs to disease in different families and the special 

 proclivity of different parts of these organs may be, in great part, 

 explained by the great variation in the food, by the relative ex- 

 tent of the gastro-iutestinal surface, and by the amount of- work 

 devolving on the respective viscera. 



In carnivora the entire gastro-intestinal surface is little more 

 than half the area of the .skin, for their rich animal food does not 

 require a prolonged retention and an elaborate series of intricate 

 processes to insure digestion and absorption. 'This .system of or- 

 gans is accordingly less liable to disorder in carnivora than in 

 herbivora and omnivora. Add to this that the carnivorous 

 stomach is very capacious relatively to the intestine, that the di- 

 gestion of the great bulk of the food (nitrogenous elements) is 

 nearly completed in this viscus, and that the contents of this or- 

 gan are easily and completely discharged by vomiting whenever 

 they prove irritating, and we have ample explanation of the com- 

 parative immunity of these animals from digestive disorders. 



The herbivora .stand at the opposite extreme, the gastro-inte.s- 

 tinal surface being over double the area of the skin in the horse, 

 and nearly three times that extent in the ox. The hard, fibrous 

 and comparatively innutritious vegetable food of tlie,se animals 

 nece.ssitates its prolonged retention in the alimentary canal in 

 order to the completion of digestion and the absorption of the 

 nutritive constituents. Hence the great liability of the herbivora 

 to diseases of the digestive organs. 



