THE PERITONEUM. 
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those above enumerated, which it would be very difficult to 
explain, and which are well understood by those who are 
practised in feeling the pulse. 
THE ABDOMEN AND ITS CONTENTS. 
PLATE VIII. Fig 5, and PLATE IX. Figs. 1 and 2. 
Having given a brief account of the contents of the chest, 
or rather those parts most essential to the general reader, 
we now descend to the abdominal viscera. The heart and 
lungs may be considered the moving powers of the animal 
system, which, however, require the materials to keep up 
and supply that motion. The organ which prepares and 
distributes that stimulus is the stomach, and is lodged in 
the higher region of the belly, while the intestines which 
carry off the waste are situated in the middle and lower 
portion of the abdominal cavity. 
The abdomen, or belly, is formed chiefly of soft parts, 
which principally consist of the four pair of abdominal 
muscles which mainly constitute its broad superficies below 
and laterally. In its interior part, the most important 
viscera are situated, viz., the stomach and liver. It is 
bounded by the false ribs, and in front by the diaphragm ; 
its posterior compartment is bounded by the pelvis, and 
above by the dorsal and lumber vertebrae and muscles 
belonging to the loins. 
The abdominal viscera of the horse differ from those of 
man chiefly in the shape and comparative size of the 
stomach, and the intestine called the colon ; their general 
relative situation is much the same in both. 
THE PERITONEUM. 
The peritoneum is the membrane that lines the cavity of 
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