SECTION II 



THE PASSAGE OF FOOD FROM THE MOUTH 

 TO THE STOMACH 



THE food after mastication is carried to the stomach by a complex 

 series of co-ordinated movements involving the muscles of the pharynx 

 and the oesophagus (Fig. 330). Various methods have been used to 



FIG. 330. Dissection to show muscles employed in deglutition. 

 &, styloid process, from which arise 1, the styloglossus, 2, the stylohyoid, 

 3, the stylo -pharyngeus muscles ; c, section of lower jaw ; d, hyoid bone ; 

 e, thyroid cartilage ; g, isthmus of thyroid gland ; 4, cut edge of mylohyoid 

 muscle ; 5, 6, 7, 8, muscles of tongue ; 9, 10, 11, superior, middle, and inferior 

 constrictors of pharynx ; 12, oesophagus. (ALLEN THOMSON.) 



study the process of deglutition in man and the higher animals. 

 Important information can be obtained by allowing a man or animal 

 to swallow either a fluid or solid with which bismuth is mixed and 

 observing the passage of the opaque substance under the Kontgen 



758 



