INTRODUCTION. 4.67 



the food first taken into the paunch has been submitted to 

 it. The aliment thus re-masticated descends directly 

 through the oesophagus into the third stomach. I^ow, as 

 this latter tube communicates with three of the stomachs, 

 the contents of the mouth may be sent into any of the 

 three by the will of the animal. This stomach is the 

 smallest of the three, and resembles a roUed-up hedgehog ; 

 its external coat has broad duplicatures, like the leaves 

 of a book, and is called the many plies. (See c.) There the 

 food only remains a short time, and undergoes some change 

 which fits it for being received into the fourth stomach, d, 

 which is called the cailette, the sides of which are wrinkled, 

 and which is the true organ of digestion, corresponding 

 with the same organ in man and other mammiferous 

 animals. The internal coating furnishes plentifully the 

 ordinary gastric secretions for facilitating digestion. There 

 is a beautiful provision in Nature, that while the young 

 ruminants are still feeding on milk, this stomach is the 

 largest of the whole. The paunch is only developed by- 

 receiving increased quantities of grass, which finally gives 

 it an enormous volume. The intestinal canal is very 

 long, though there are but few enlargements in the great 

 intestines. The csecum is likewise long, and tolerably 

 smooth. 



Of all animals the ruminants are the most useful to man. 

 He can eat all parts of the animal ; and it is from that he 

 procures most of the flesh which constitutes his aliment. 



The passage of the food through these various stomachs 

 will be easily understood, by reference to fig. 1, plate xii. 

 Its course is indicated by the direction of the probes 

 a, b. The oesophagus communicates on one hand with the 

 paunch, d, and on the other, with the cavities, c, e,f; and 

 by the aid of a muscular fold formed by the walls of the 



