Cattle 1853 - Lewis Family Farm

216 CATTLE.
The short-horn, in his state of greatest and most unnatural fatness,
has, or Ought to have, a tendency to fineness of the neck, at the
setting on of the head, however that neck may rapidly increase in
bulk, and, in the opinion of some, give too great a weight to the fore-
quarters.
The splenitis, trapezius, and complexus muscles are those which have
most to do with the usual bulk of the superior part of the neck, and
with that which it may attain under the process of fattening. The
splenitis may be seen at fig. 1, p. J202; the trapezius is depicted at
fig. 11, p. 208 ; and the rhomboideus longus, with which the trapezius
is united, is brought into view at fig. 3, p. 211. The complexus major
is situated under them. Some of it rises as low as the transverse
processes of the four or five first bones of the back, and from all,
except the two higher of the bones of the neck. It therefore has its
greatest bulk about the lower part of the neck, and on it, and the
fatty matter connected with it, the form and bulk of that portion of
the neck depend. Its office is to raise the neck, and elevate and
protrude the head. The form of the under part of the neck is much
influenced by the levator humeri, which is seen at fig. 4, p. 202 ;
9, p. 208 ; and, still lower down, by the pectoral muscle, for there
is but one in the ox, seen at fig. 13, p. 208. Considering, however,
the laxity of the muscular fibre in the ox,' and the interposition of fatty
matter in every part of the muscular system, this muscle can acquire
considerable bulk, and is that on which the form and bulk of the
neck, at its lower and more important part, principally depend.
Whatever may have been said of fine and small necks, the neck must
rapidly thicken as it descends, or we shall have a general lightness
of carcass, which will render the animal comparatively worthless as a
grazing beast.
There are other muscles, however, placed under the complexus—
viz., the complex*./ minor, and the large and small recti, and oblique
muscles, concerned in the . lateral motion of the head, which have
considerable size, and contribute materially to the bulk of the neck.
THE ARTERIES OF THE NECK.
Before we leave the neck, we should describe the principal blood-
vessels which are brought into view in the cut at p. 202. The caro-
tid artery (fig. 26, pp. 202 and 205,) and some of its ramifications,
are the only arteries that we could bring into view. The carotid
artery on either,,side proceeds from the heart—escapes from the
chest with the windpipe and the gullet ; and, approaching the
windpipe, and clinging to its posterior surface, climbs the neck,
supplying the different parts with blood, until it arrives at the larynx,
where it divides into two branches—the external and internal. The
external spreads over the faje and external part of the head—the
fig.