THE INTESTINE? 



203 



soft velvet feel. This coat is ciowded witii innumerable little mou hs, which 

 are the commencement of minute vessels, by w'licli the nutritive part of the 

 food U talcen up ; and these vessels, uniting and passing over the mesentery, 

 carry this nutritive matter to a receptacle for it, whence it is conveyed into 

 the circulation, and distributed to every part. 



Tiie intestines are more particuia'-ly retained in their places by the 7)ie.- 

 sentery, c, (middle of the intestines,) which is a doubling of the peritoneum, 

 including the intestine in its botton., and likewise inclosing between its 

 folds the arteries and veins, and nerves, and the vessels whicii convey the 

 nutriment from the intestines to the circulation. The mesentery has some- 

 what the appearance of an expanded fan, and all these things ramifying 

 between its transparent folds, give it a beautiful appearance. 



CUT OF TEIE INTESTINES. 



9 



c Commencement of the small intestines. Tlie ducts wliich convey the bile and the 

 secretion from the pancreas are seen entering' a little below. 



i Convolutions or winding's of the small intestines. 



c A portion of the mesentery. 



d The small intestines terminating' in the coecum. 



« The ccecum, or blind g'ut, with the bands running along it, puckering' and dividing 

 it into numerous cells. 



f Beginning' of the colon. 



g Continuation and expansion of the colon, divided like the ccecum into ccUa. 



h Termination of the colon in the rectum. 



t Termination of the rectum at the anus. 



The first of the small intestines is the duodenum, a, so called because, 

 in the human subject, it is about twelve inches long. In the horse, it is 

 nearly two feet in length. It is the largest in circumference of all the small 

 intestines, and receives the food converted into chyme by the digestive power 

 of the stomach, which in it undergoes another and very important change; 

 a portion of it is converted into chyle. It is mixed with the bile and the 

 secretion from the pancreas, which enter about five inches down the intes- 

 tine. The bile seems to be the principal agent in this change ; no sooner 

 does it mingle with the chyme, than the fluid begins to be separated into two 

 \listinct ingredients, a thick white liquid, termed chyle, and containing the 



