THE DIGESTIVE ORGANS 187 



whilst others only require one chewing. My view of rumination 

 differs considerably from that of some other writers, and is as follows: 

 The animal fills the paunch with food of various kinds, principally 

 of a bulky nature, taking little or no trouble to masticate it. Then, 

 when the animal has had its fill, it rests and commences to chew the 

 cud. Small pellets or boluses are formed by the churning motion of 

 the rumen. These pellets are then passed to the second stomach, 

 where the fine portions, such as meals, cakes, and bran, are sifted 

 out, and carried at once to the third stomach, while the rougher 

 portions are formed into a bolus and thrown up the gullet into the 

 mouth, to be properly chewed and insalivated. This process over, 

 it is again swallowed and sent back into the paunch ; thus, some 

 portions of the food are remasticated several times, while foreign 

 bodies, such as sand, nails, etc., as already mentioned, are left in the 

 second stomach. My idea of this process originated many years 

 ago on performing rumenotomy — that is, cutting into the stomach and 

 removing its contents. On putting my hand through the opening 

 in the left side, I found in the upper and back part of the rumen a 

 number of small pellets of food, varying in size from that of a nut to 

 a good-sized apple, and I came to the conclusion that by the action 

 of the muscular bands found in the walls of the paunch these pellets 

 were rolled up and carried over the top of the food lying in the 

 bottom of the paunch to the second stomach, to be there sifted, as 

 already stated {par. 288). None of the compartments, except the 

 rumen, is large enough to hold all the cud that the animal chews 

 at once, and the second stomach, which is said by some to be the 

 water-bag, is so small that it would not hold a tenth part of the 

 quantity of water which an animal drinks at a time. 



292. The small intestine in cattle is much less in diameter than 

 that of the horse, yet it is about twice as long, being about 140 feet in 

 length. The large intestine is about 36 feet in length. The caecum, 

 or first portion of the large intestinr, is very simple, and oblong 

 in shape ; its free or blind end is rounded, and without any bands or 

 furrows. It joins the colon at its other extremity, where it also 

 receives the insertion of the small intestine. The colon, or second 



