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ABSTRACT REPOET OF AaRICULTURAL 

 DISCUSSIONS. 



Meeting of Weeldy Council, Tuesday, Fehruartj 11th. Mr. Eamsay in 

 the Chair. A Lecture was delivered by Professor Simonds on 

 " Some of the Causes which Produce Disarrangements of the Digestive 

 Organs in Young Sheep." 



Professor Simonds said : he would in the first instance make a 

 few general observations with regard to the digestive system of the 

 sheep. 



The DiGEsTtvK Orgaks. 



Sheep belonging to the class designated ruminantia have a very 

 complicated system of digestive organs, which pass the food back 

 from the stomach to the mouth for the purpose of its being re- 

 masticated and re-insalivated. We have, first, the rumen or paunch, 

 into which the food goes primarily ; next the reticulum, or second 

 stomach ; then the third stomach ; and, lastly, the foiu'th, or truo 

 digestive stomach, the others being in fact preparatory organs. 

 It is unnecessary that I should go into disputed questions as to 

 whether the food is passed dii'ectly from the rumen into the mouth, 

 or is previously passed into the reticulum, and then into the mouth ; 

 or whether, on its second descent from the mouth, after being re- 

 masticated, it passes into the rumen, or directly into the third 

 stomach. I may, however, state that I hold the opinion that the food 

 is passed fii'st into the rumen, and that, at each subsequent swallowing 

 of that food, the matter, however it may be reduced, is still jmssed into 

 that viscus ; and the reticulum is nothing more or less than a supplier 

 of thoroughly masticated and insalivated food to the third and fom'th 

 stomachs, in order that it may be properly digested. When the food is 

 passed from the fourth stomach it goes into the intestinal canal, and there 

 it becomes subject to the action of certain secretions, which produce 

 that change in it by which the nutritive parts are separated from the 

 others. These nutritive parts, to which the name " Chyle " is given, 

 are precipitated upon the mucous membrane of the intestines, where 

 the process of their absorption goes on. The fecculent or innutritioua 

 matter passes into the large intestines, where it is retained for a 

 a certain length of time, subject to the fui-ther absorption of any 

 nutritive parts which it may possess. Ultimately it is voided by the 

 rectum in the shape of small nodules, which are compressed into 

 that form by the action of the gut during the passage. 



The necessity of these observations will be evident when we come to 

 consider the affections which are commonly known by the term 

 diarrhoja, having their centre mostly in the intestinal canal, and their 

 origin in material, which may be to some extent acrimonious, coming 



