50 THE DISEASES AND DISORDERS OP THE OX. 



system of aiimentation and means whereby their food is converted 

 into material capable of being absorbed into the blood-stream. 

 Ruminants, as a matter of fact, do usually extract their nourish- 

 ment from food which is comparatively innutritions in nature. 

 Consequently they have to take rather large quantities of food, 

 and accordingly the digestive canal in this class of animals is 

 specially constructed so as to be capable of dealing with con- 

 siderable amounts of ingested substances. Indeed, it may seem 

 wonderful how the bulky bodies of herbivorous animals can be 

 maintained by the food supplied to them. On the other hand, 

 the carnivorous animals, such as the lion, tiger, cat, dog, and so 

 forth, have much less difficulty in converting the flesh which 

 they consume into the flesh and blood of their own bodies, and 

 hence their digestive canals are of a more simple kind. 



It may be said that vegetable material requires a longer time 

 in order to be digested than do other substances. For instance, 

 in man vegetables are not fully digested in the stomach ; and in 

 the case of a person who had an artificial anus at the end of the 

 small intestine, vegetables were found even there to be only in- 

 completely digested. Hence in ruminants, herbivorous marsu- 

 pials, and herbivorous quadrumana we find a complex stomach, 

 a long small intestine, a large-sized caecum and a spirally-shaped 

 colon. Again, the dugong, the sloth, and the manatee have 

 stomach and intestines complex, though in diff'erent ways. 

 Again, the dormouse, wombat, and beaver have little or no 

 complexity, but have a gland at the side of the stomach. 

 Finally the perissodactyle ungulates have the stomach simple 

 but the colon and csecum sacculated. All these animals are 

 herbivorous, and we see that special arrangements are present 

 in order to facilitate the digestion of vegetable matters. In this 

 connection it is well to bear in mind also that vegetable material 

 does not putrefy so rapidly as fleshy substances do, and hence it 

 is not necessary that it should be so quickly got rid of. 



Again, human beings are omnivorous. Our food consists of 

 both animal and vegetable material, and under the general circum- 

 stances of healthy nutrition it is most advisable that we should 

 take a mixed diet. Indeed, there can be no doubt that the 

 wisest and best plan is for us to live on fish, flesh, or fowl, as 

 well as vegetables ; and we may add that a fair amount of water 

 per diem is requisite, and that we ought to allow a sufficient 



