ABDOMINAL VISCERA OF THE HORSE. 679 
branches, but more especially with the pyloric branches of the 
hepatic artery. 
The veins returning the blood from the stomach are the gas- 
tric and splenic, which anastomose with the duodenal veins. 
These all have a few valves, but they may be easily injected 
from the porta into which they empty, owing to their very free 
anastomosis. 
The lymphatics of the stomach are numerous, and in some 
parts very apparent, entering the lymphatic glands situated 
along the greater curvature and around the cardia, where they 
are numerous and large. 
The stomach is supplied with nerves from both the cerebro 
spinal and sympathetic or ganglionic system. The pneumo- 
gastric or par vaga nerves, arising from the medulla oblongata, 
are the main conductors of nervous influence to and from that 
viscus. Their arrangement is simple, as, after they have 
formed various plexuses within the thorax, in which they 
mutually interchange fibres, they reach the diaphragm, and here 
are arranged as two nervous branches, i. e., a superior and an 
inferior one. The former is principally destined for the fundus, 
whilst the latter supplies the pyloric end, and sends branches 
off to the duodenum, with one or two to the solar plexus. 
The sympathetic fibres destined for the stomach are derived 
from the solar plexus descending on to the viscus in company 
with the vessels. 
Intestine. 
This term is applied to that portion of the alimentary canal 
extending between the pylorus and anus, destined for the tem- 
porary retention of the chymous mass, so that its nutrient parts 
may be absorbed, whilst its more solid indigestible constituents 
are collected for excretion. 
The intestine in all monogastria, but especially in solipeda, 
occupies by far the greatest part of the abdominal cavity. The 
bonds of attachment to the various parts of the latter are con- 
tracted by the intestine through its peritoneal investment, more 
especially to the spine, constituting mesenters, which I shall 
especially allude to when describing with more detail each por- 
tion of this capacious tube. 
Not only the attachments, but also the shape of the intestine, 
vary at different parts of its course, so that it has been deemed 
necessary to divide it, either arbitrarily or at natural demarcations. 
Thus we speak of the small and large intestine, the two being 
separated naturally by a marked change in direction, size, and 
conformation. 
