34 



GENESEE FARMER. 



Feb. 



divided into four compartments. The first may 

 be regarded as a simple reservoir, which is call- 

 ed ventriculus by anatomists, and paunch by 

 butchers. It lies mostly on the left side, and 

 fills a large space in the belly. From this bag 

 the food passes into the second compartment, 

 called reticulum^ honey-comb or bonnet, from 

 the cell-like form of its interior structure. — 

 There the food is formed into small round balls, 

 which are thrown back into the (Esophagus {mesii 

 pipe) and raised to the mouth to be chewed while 

 the animal is free from the toil of gathering its 

 nourishment. This second m;;stication is a proof 

 that the food has undergone very little change in 

 the first and second stomachs. Mark now the 

 contrivance which prevents the well che .ved cud 

 from returning into the great reservoir or ven- 

 triculus, to be passed into the honey-comb, and 

 back again into the mouth. 



When the chewed cud has descended the oeso- 

 phagus to its lower extremity, its altered charac- 

 ter excites the prompt action of certain nerves 

 and muscles that draw over the orifice into the 

 first stomach, two valvular folds which unite in 

 a way to form a short canal directly through the 

 second, into the third stomach or compartment, 

 and thence into the fourth cavity. It is in the lat- 

 ter that digestion mainly takes place, or that 

 young blood is principally formed. The third 

 compartment is called the manyplies ; and the 

 fourth the caille, or red stomach. From this 

 the small intestines take their origin. 



■Compound stomach of rvmhiants, (from Cariis and Jones.) 



1. CEsophagus. 



2. The paunch, or first stomach. 



3. The honeycomb, or second stomach. 



4. The manyplies, or third stomach. 



5. The c; ille or red, or fourth stomach. 



6. The commencement of the small inteatinee. 



Every farmer must have noticed the way in 

 which these intestines are connected with the 

 back bone, or to the back part of the abdomen 

 by a fatty mass called mesentary. T|?e whole 

 length of the small intestines is covered with 

 the mouths of a set of vessels named lacteals, 

 which drink in, so to speak, the digested food, 



or young blood in the alimentary canal, and con- 

 vey it directly to the heart for general distribu- 

 tion, after it has passed through the lungs and 

 imbibed a due portion of vital air, or oxygen gaa. 



When we examine critically the composition 

 of the food consumed by our domestic animals, 

 we find it to consist essentially of starch, sugar, 

 oil, gum, woody fiber, albumen, gluten, casein, 

 fibrin, and several earthy salts. All these sub- 

 stances, except the woody fiber, are found dis- 

 solved in the chyhy or the food as it passes out of 

 the fourth and last stomach of a cow or sheep 

 into the small intestines. The same compound 

 bodies are likewise found in the blood vessels 

 connected with the heart. 



To prevent the waste of starch, gluten, and 

 other elements of animal nutrition in the seeds, 

 stems and roots of plants, by their ready solu- 

 tion in water, as they are ever exposed to rains, 

 nature has taken good care to have them nearly 

 or quite insoluble, before they are eaten. Di- 

 gestion consists in effecting chemical and vital 

 changes in the organized elements taken into 

 the mouth as food, that impart heat to the system, 

 and repair the constant consumption of its mus- 

 cles, nerves, brain, fat, bones, membranes and 

 other tissues, by which chemical changes, sub- 

 stances that were insoluble in food, are i-ender- 

 ed soluble and dissolved in blood. To supply 

 all animals, man as well as brutes, with pure 

 healthy blood is the end and purpose of diges- 

 tion. There are a few well established truths in 

 regard to the formation of blood which we must 

 assume as granted by the reader for their proof 

 would consume too much of our space and time. 

 These are 



First : If the food of an animal lacks phospho- 

 rus, or any other ingredient of its brain, lacks 

 bone-earth or any other element in the frame- 

 work of its system, lacks starch, oil and sugar, 

 or ingredients to burn and warm the body j or 

 lacks nitrogenous compounds to repair the waste 

 of muscles and of all other organs, the warm 

 blooded, living being must suffer in its health to 

 the full extent of such deficiency. 



Secondly : So far as starch, gluten, casein, 

 (vegetable cheese,) or other insoluble article of 

 food, is allowed to pass the digestive organs un- 

 dissolved, it will escape from the system through 

 Ihe alimentary canal, and contribute not a par- 

 ticle to the nourishment of the body. 



Permit us to express a conviction founded on 

 considerable research, that the annual loss from 

 the omission to supply animals with food best 

 prepared, and adapted, first to keep up their con- 

 stant temperature of 98 degrees ; secondly, to 

 repair the waste of every organ and tissue ; and 

 thirdly, to be dissolved and digested, is equal in 

 value to one fourth of all the food consumed. — 

 When we feed a cow raw potatoes and shorts 

 containing starch, and find one third as much 

 starch in her dung as there was in her food, 



