THE 
VETERINARIAN. 
VOL. I. MARCH, 1828. n». s. 
ANATOMY OF THE HORSE. 
(Continued from page 45.) 
CERTAIN TERMS used in descriptive anatomy may require 
some explanation. 
The anatomist views the body in the erect position; the limbs 
preserving, in the direction of the tendency of the weight, per¬ 
pendicular lines in respect to the trunk, and parallel lines in re¬ 
gard to the correspondent fore and hind feet, and also, in the 
transverse direction, in relation to one foot to its fellow; the 
head and neck maintaining their natural degrees of elevation and 
cuiwature; the tail erect. In this position, the anatomist as¬ 
sumes, to aid him in his descriptions, that an imaginary plane 
extends through the body, bisecting it into lateral halves ; this 
is continued through the neck and head, and descends between 
the legs. The correlative terms, superior and inferior, anterior 
and posterior^ require no elucidation, unless it be in regard to 
the head and neck : the line bounding the superior regions is 
considered to extend from the tip of the coccyx over the occiput 
to the upper lip; that forming the inferior boundary, from the 
lower lip, along the under jaw, down the neck, and along the 
belly, with some interruption in the croup, to the extremity of 
the tail. The adoption of the compounds of these terms, leads 
to still further accuracy in description : such are antero-superior, 
anteroAnferior, supero-anterior, mfero-anterior^ &c. Antero-supe- 
rior denotes the anterior compartment of the superior region : 
supero-anterior, the superior compartment of the anterior region; 
and so on. Inner and outer express relation to the bisecting 
plane, running through the median or mesian region: but the 
compounds mesio-superior, mesio-posterior, &c. have no reference 
whatever to the mesian or middle regions: they simply imply 
the middle compartments of the superior and posterior regions. 
VoL. I.—No. 3. F 
