THE 
VETERINARIAN. 
VOL. XV, No. 171.] MARCH 1842. [New Series, No. 3. 
LECTURES ON HORSES. 
By William Percivall, M.R.C.S . , Veterinary Surgeon 
First Life Guards. 
LECTURE II. 
THE NECK. 
“ With neck like a rainbow, erecting his crest.” 
THE neck being the part to which the head is affixed, and by 
which it is attached to the body and supported, its shape and pro- 
portions will necessarily admit of a good deal of variation, accord- 
ing to the size and setting-on of that appendage. Viewed in the 
skeleton, the neck appears a very slender and inadequate structure 
to support such a formidable and bulky substance as the head ; and 
truly inadequate to such a burden would it prove, were it not in the 
living animal aided in its functions by two powers of considerable 
influence and importance — one elastic , the other muscular , in its 
nature. The striking difference in the aspect and volume of the 
neck in the anatomized and living animals will shew how great is 
the proportion of soft parts — ligament and muscle — compared with 
the abstract osseous materials or component vertebrce ; and when we 
come to consider the nature and economy of these soft materials, we 
shall find that hardly any of the weight of the head is actually 
borne by the vertebrce of the neck ; although the bone here, as in 
other parts, must still be regarded as the framework and basis of 
the structure. So far, therefore, as the bone is concerned in the 
support of the head, it matters little what the form and dimensions 
of the neck may be ; its length and figure and substance having 
reference chiefly to the operation of the muscular and elastic 
powers. 
VOL. xv. 
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