INTESTINAL DIGESTION 8/ 



SUMMARY 



1. From the stomach the food passes into a long, coiled 



tube called the intestine. 



2. In the intestine the food is acted upon by ferments in 



three fluids: the intestinal juice, the pancreatic juice, 

 and the bile. 



3. The intestinal juice has a slight action in changing 



starch to sugar, and albumin to peptone. 



4. The pancreatic juice does the main part in changing 



starch to sugar and albumin to peptone, and of 

 emulsifying and saponifying fats. 



5. The bile greatly increases the power of the pancreatic 



juice. It also lubricates the intestine, prevents fer- 

 mentation, and aids the passage of digested food 

 into the blood tubes. 



6. The muscles of the intestine slowly force the food 



down the tube so that it takes about twelve hours 

 for food to traverse the small intestine, and thirty-six 

 to traverse the large intestine. 



DEMONSTRATIONS 



43. Open the abdomen of a dead animal. Notice the thin, gauze- 

 like omentum containing lumps of fat, and enveloping the intestine. 

 Lift it up, and notice that the upper part of the large intestine seems to 

 be inserted through it as though it were split into two leaves. Notice 

 the difference between the small and large intestine in position, shape, 

 and movability. Notice the beginning of the large intestine and the 

 caecum. The vermiform appendix can usually be found also. Notice 

 the position, size, and feeling of the liver, and the gall bladder beneath 

 it. By careful search the pancreas can be found behind the stomach, 

 lying crosswise of the body, flattened out upon the backbone. It is 

 covered with peritoneum and fat, and so is obscured, but can be recog- 

 nized by its nodular appearance. A pig's sweetbread has much the 

 same appearance as a man's pancreas. (See demonstration 35.) 



