20 



THE STOMACH. 



Descending the gullet the bolus of food at 

 length reaches the stomach, a pouch or dilatation 

 of that tube. In the stomach further important 

 changes are executed in the constitution of the 

 food. 



In man this organ performs the greater por- 

 tion of the process of digestion. In the horse 

 and ox but little analogy exists, and the essential 

 points of difference will repay even a cursory 

 examination. 



The ox is endowed with four stomachs, or 

 what is more in keeping with anatomical descrip- 

 tion, a quadrisect stomach, i.e., containing four 

 distinct compartments, each of which possesses 

 different functions. 



The first compartment is one of immense 

 capacity. It occupies three-fourths of the 

 abdomen, and is able to accommodate a great 

 quantity of ingesta. 



The second is small, and contains more fluid 



food without due mastication and insalivation. The secretions 

 are deficient by reason of fatigue or nervous depression and other 

 causes. The bolus is speedily despatched, almost dry, and 

 choking is apt to occur in its worst forms. If the food reaches 

 the stomach aggravated colic is almost certain. 



See my Prize Essay " On the Diseases of Farm Horses," 

 published in the Transactions of the High^nd and Agricultural 

 Society of Scotland, Article " Choking." 



