CHAPTER II 



THE GIZZABD 



EARLY all the higher or mammiferous ani- 

 mals," Uncle Paul continued, "such as the 

 dog, cat, wolf, horse, have only one digestive pouch 

 a stomach where the alimentary substances are 

 dissolved and made fluid, so as to enter the veins and 

 be turned into blood, by which all parts of the body 

 are nourished. But the ox, goat, and sheep the 

 cud-chewers, in short have four digestive cavities, 

 which I will tell you about later. I will tell you how, 

 in the pasture, these animals hastily swallow almost 

 unchewed grass and put it by in a large reservoir 

 called a paunch, from which it comes up again after- 

 ward in a season of repose, to be rechewed at leisure 

 in small mouthf uls. 



"Well, birds are fashioned in a similar way, as far 

 as eating is concerned. Not being able to chew, as 

 they have no teeth, they swallow their food without 

 any preparation, nearly as the beak has seized it, 

 and amass a quantity of it in a spacious stomach, just 

 as the ox does in his paunch. From this reservoir 

 the food passes, little by little, into two other diges- 

 tive cavities, one of which immerses it in a liquid 

 calculated to dissolve it, and the other grinds and 

 triturates it better than the best pair of jaws could 



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