PEELIMINAET EEMAEKS. 297 



The corn and grass eaten by the horse afford material to 

 supply the waste unceasingly going on within the body, but 

 these substances possess an organization prior to their assimi- 

 lation ; but before this takes place it is necessary that their 

 original forms be entirely changed. These solids must be reduced 

 to a liquid state ; and to accomplish this, and to aid the body 

 in getting rid of a portion of its worn-out materials, are the 

 special functions and duties of the digestive apparatus. 



The molar teeth thoroughly break down and pulverise the 

 harder and more soUd portions of the food. The stomach by 

 its motion, and by the solvent properties of the fluids secreted 

 from its mucous membrane, reduces the mass to a liquid. The 

 liver and pancreatic secretions produce other changes of nearly 

 equal importance. After undergoing these processes the digested 

 substances, by the aid of the muscular tissues previously alluded 

 to, are forced onwards, and are thus freely exposed to the absor- 

 bent vessels, whose function it is to remove the digested fluids 

 further within the body ; beyond which it is not necessary in 

 the present treatise to inquire. 



Now, every part of this 95 feet of organised tube is 

 subject to various forms of disease — some being of a simple 

 character ; others complicated and virulent ; others which are 

 obscure, but which appear to produce a series of derange- 

 ments in various organs of the body situated remotely from 

 them. 



The term Indigestion, for example, is one comprehending 

 much, if viewed in relation to disease in general. The majority 

 of equine maladies treated by veterinary surgeons are, in my 

 opinion, more closely related to an unhealthy condition of the 

 digestive organs than is generally supposed. Veterinary sur- 

 geons will do weU to bear in mind the remarks contained in 

 pages 174 and 175 of the present treatise. 



