DIGESTIVE ORGANS OF THE RUMINANT ANIMAL. 



525 



Stomach of the Ox. 



A, A. Paunch. B. Reticulum. C. Omasum. 

 D. Abomasum. E. Pylorus. F. Duodenum. 

 G. CEsophagus. 



cells, and is covered with fine papillae. Fig. 226. 



The third stomach, C, is the smallest, 

 and is called omasum or manyplies. 

 It is of a globular shape, and has 

 a thinner muscular coat than the 

 former. It consists of numerous 

 broad laminae, sent off from the inter- 

 nal coat, running in a longitudinal 

 direction, alternately varying in 

 breadth, and covered with a small gra- 

 nular papillae. The fourth stomach, 

 D, is the abomasum, ventriculus in- 

 testinalis or caillette. It has a pyri- 

 form shape, and is next in size to the 

 paunch. It has large longitudinal rugae, 

 covered with villi. The muscular coat 

 is still thinner than that of the former. 

 This stomach is the only one that 

 resembles the human organ; and, in the young of the ruminant 

 animal, with the milk curdled in it, forms the runnet or rennet. 

 The property of curdling milk is, however, possessed by all digestive 

 stomachs. The inner surface of the three first stomachs is covered 

 with cuticle; whilst that of the fourth is lined by a true mucous or 

 secreting membrane. There is in the interior arrangement of the 

 stomachs of the ruminant animal a singular provision by which the food 

 can be either received into the first and second stomachs, or be carried 

 on into the third, if its character be such as to be fitted at first for the 

 action of the omasum. 



From the oesophagus, in Fig. 227, a gutter passes into the second 

 and third stomachs. The 



third leads into the fourth Fi - 227 - 



by a narrow opening, and 

 the fourth terminates in 

 the duodenum, which has a 

 pylorus as its origin. When 

 the animal eats solid food, 

 it is, after slight masti- 

 cation, passed into the 

 paunch, and thence, by 

 small portions, into the 

 second stomach. When this 

 has become mixed with 

 fluid, and kept for some 

 time at a moderately high 

 temperature, a morsel is 

 thrown back with velocity 

 from the stomach into the 

 mouth, where it is "rumi- 

 nated," and then swallowed and passed on into the third stomach, the 

 groove or gutter being now so contracted as to form a channel for its 



Section of the Stomach of the Ruminant Animal. 



