The food suffers mastication and insaliva-tion at the same time. While under the operation of the grinders it is moistened and diluted by a fluid which enters the mouth at many little apertures. This fluid is almost transparent; it is tasteless; it is termed saliva. Much of it is furnished by two large glands, which are situated at that part of the throat where the head joins the neck. These two glands pour their secretions into the mouth by means of two tubes which open near the grinding-teeth. Some have supposed that the only use of this fluid is to dilute the food, and to facilitate mastication and deglutition; others, that it also, in a slight degree, animalizes the food. Hence it has been argued that the food should not be too soft, too easily eaten, lest it be swallowed without insalivation, and without the animalization which saliva ought to produce. It has been urged, as proof that horses do not thrive so well when fed entirely upon boiled food. The illustration seems to be well established. Horses do not appear to possess lasting vigor and great energy when fed exclusively upon soft food; but whether this proves that insalivation is animalization may be doubted. There is no proof of a positive kind, whether it is or is not.

It would be easy to argue on either side, but it would be fruitless.

Deglutition is the act of swallowing. The food, after being ground and moistened, is rolled into a ball by the tongue, and placed at the back of the mouth, where a compressing apparatus forces it into the gullet. The gullet, exerting a con tractile power, forces the ball into the stomach. Deglutition may become difficult, or it may be partially suspended by soreness of the throat. When the throat in much inflamed, the horse may be anxious to eat, yet unable to swallow. When great pain attends the effort he forbears further trial; he chews the food and then throws it out of his mouth, being able perhaps to swallow only the juice. In less severe cases, he makes a peculiar motion of the head every time he swallows; and in drinking, he drinks very slowly, and art of the water returns by the nostrils. In this state the horse should be put under medical treatment.