THE 
VETERINARIAN. 
VOL. V. 
AUGUST, 1832. 
No. 56. 
MR. Y OUATT’S VETERINARY LECTURES, 
DELIVERED AT THE UNIVERSITY OF LONDON. 
LECTURE XVII. 
The Anatomy of the Larynx of the Horse, Ox , Dog, and Swine . 
PLACED at the top of the windpipe, the inner guard of the 
lungs, if any injurious substance should escape the Schneide¬ 
rian membrane—the main guard against the passage of food 
into the respiratory tubes, and at the same time the instrument 
of voice—is the larynx. In its last character, indeed, it loses 
much of its importance in our patients; but even in the dumb 
animal it is a beautiful piece of mechanism, and deserves more 
consideration than I have time to give it in the course of these 
lectures. 
It consists of five cartilages united together by a ligamentous 
substance, by distinct and perfect articulations, and by a seem¬ 
ingly complicated but simple apparatus of muscles; and, alto¬ 
gether, forming an irregular oblong tube, possessing great extent 
of motion with reference to the surrounding parts, and having 
the power of adapting itself to natural or morbid changes in 
the respiratory process, and more particularly to the production 
of the voice with all its intonations. * • 
The Cricoid Cartilage.—At the base is the cricoid cartilage. 
It is the support, and, as it were, the bond of union, of the rest. 
This preparation is the larynx of the horse. The cricoid or ring- 
like daftilage (the fac-simile of a large Roman ring) is distin¬ 
guishable in front from the rings of the trachea by its being at 
the summit of them, and projecting a little more than any 
of them. It is united to the first ring by a strong and elastic 
ligament, similar to that which is interposed between the rings 
of the trachea. As we advance along the sides it widens, and 
presents a considerable depression, occupied by a muscle common 
VOL. v. 3 m 
