ORGANS OF DIGESTION. 327 



DESCRIPTION OF THE CUT. 



A A. The msophagus. 



B B B B. The rumen, or first stomach, showing its compartments. 



C. The reticulum, or second stomach. 



D. The maniplus, or third stomach. 



E. The abomasum, or fourth or true stomach. 



F. The commencement of the small intestines at the pyloric orifice of the stomach. 



G. The situation where the biliary duct empties its contents into the duodenum. 



H H H. The small intestines freed from the mesentery, and arranged evenly, so as 



to show their length. 

 I. The termination of the small and beginning of the large intestines, guarded by a 



valve. 

 J J. The colon, or first large intestine. 



K. The blind extremity of the colon, by some termed the ccecum. 

 L. The rectum, or straight gut. 



in sheep is about one-fiftieth that of the carcase, and its spe- 

 cific gravity is somewhat greater than water. It is par- 

 tially separated into divisions or lobes, and is principally 

 situated towards the right side. Its office is to separate the 

 bile from the venous blood — that which has circulated through 

 a great portion of the body and is on its way to the lungs to 

 be re-purified. It is called a gland, and is, in fact, a fine 

 sieve or filter, having the power of separating a peculiar 

 substance from the blood and no other. It is supplied with 

 arterial blood for its own nourishment, but by means of a 

 large vein called the vena porta it is furnished with venous 

 blood for the exercise of its functions. The bile being thus 

 separated, is then conveyed into a reservoir attached to 

 the liver and called the gall-bladder, from which the gall- 

 duct rises, and enters the intestine about eighteen inches 

 from the stomach. Ruminating animals, in common with 

 man and the carnivora, are furnished with a gall-bladder, 

 whilst horses and the other solid ungulous animals do not 

 possess them ; the reason being that in the latter the diges- 

 tive process is continually going on, and therefore a constant 

 supply of bile is essential, while in the former the food is 

 either taken in distinct meals, as in man and the carnivora, 

 or otherwise the ruminating process is carried on and re- 

 newed at different periods, as in sheep and cattle — in either 

 case requiring large and copious supplies of bile to complete 

 the process of digestion. It must be evident from the exist- 

 ence of the gall-bladder in some species of animals and its 

 absence in others that the bile must perform an important 

 part in the digestive process. One of its functions is to 

 neutralize the acidity which the food or chyme has acquired 

 in the stomach by means of the gastric juice, and thus pre- 



