CHAPTER VII 



DIGESTION OF FOOD: THE INTESTINE 



H 



FIG. 52. THE DIGESTIVE ORGANS IN 

 THE ABDOMEN 



The stomach and liver are separated for 

 clearness* sake. They are really in close 

 contact. 



A, appendix; B, large intestine; C, duodenum; 

 D, bile duct; E, liver; F, gall bladder; G, cys- 

 tic duct; H, hepatic duct; /, pancreas; J, sig- 

 moid flexure; K, rectum; L, anal aperture. 



98 



MANY people have a 

 mistaken idea that the 

 stomach is the all-impor- 

 tant section of the food 

 canal, the chief organ of 

 digestion, and that almost 

 as soon as food is swal- 

 lowed it becomes trans- 

 formed by some marvel- 

 lous influence into energy, 

 heat, muscle or brain. 

 We frequently hear a 

 man say that he needs a 

 hearty dinner because he 

 is to work hard in the 

 afternoon, thus wrongly 

 assuming that the dinner 

 of the day furnishes him 

 with immediate muscular 

 power. But little if any 

 food is absorbed from the 

 mouth or gullet, and little 

 from the stomach. Food 

 is of no value until it has 

 left the stomach and, not 

 for many hours after eat- 

 ing does any portion of it 

 become a part of the bodv 

 itself. The power to do 

 each day's work comes 

 from the food eaten the 

 day before or, perhaps. 



