DIGESTION AND RESORPTION 



of entrance from the small intestine and that of exit into the 

 colon being near together and in the upper part of the ccecum. 

 Anatomically, it might almost be called a second stomach. 

 Its functions, however, resemble those of the first stomach of 

 ruminants and not 

 those of the true 

 stomach, the feed 

 stagnating, so to 

 speak, in the 

 ccecum and under- 

 going extensive f er- 

 mentation and 

 putrefaction. The 

 size of the ccecum, 

 in a general way, 

 varies inversely as 

 that of the stom- 

 ach. Thus in the 

 horse it is very 

 large, having about 

 1 6 per cent of the 

 total capacity of 

 the digestive canal. 

 In the ox, on the 

 other hand, it has 

 only about 3 per 

 cent and in the 

 sheep less than 2.5 

 per cent of the total 

 capacity and in the 

 hog about 5.5 per 

 cent. 



122. The large 

 intestine. -- The 

 alimentary canal is 

 continued from the 



ccecum as the large intestine, which, as its name implies, is gen- 

 erally of greater diameter than the small intestine but also 

 shorter. It is subdivided into the colon and the rectum and 

 serves rather as a resorbent than as a digestive organ. The colon 



FIG. 13. 



Coecum of horse. (Colin, Physiologic 

 comparee des Animaux.) 



