DIGESTION IN THE LARGE INTESTINE. 



431 



principles which have escaped absorption in the small intestine. Its 

 enormous capacity, five or six times that of the stomach, enables it to 

 retain immense quantities of materials which move slowty, and which 



FIG. 166, INTESTINAL CANAI, OF THE Ox. (Mitller.) 



a, duodenum : 6 and r, jejunum and ilenm : d, caecum ; e, colon, with its various convolutions : /, rectum ; 

 g, commencement of colon ; TO, mesentery of large intestine; m>, mesentery of small intestine. 



are brought in contact with an immense extent of mucous membrane. 

 The contents enter by a narrow and valvular opening, and descend first 



