184 DISEASES OF ANIMALS. 



ning of a fever, and weak when the fever is assuming • 

 putrid fonn. 



ORGANS OF DIGESTION. 



Cattle and shesp ruminate or chew the cud, and they 

 have four stomachs. After the food is chewed, it passes 

 down the gullet to the first stomach, paunch, or rumen, 

 which is the largest, and lies on the left side. The food, 

 after remaining awhile in the paunch, and becoming 

 macerated, is forced up into the mouth again, in small 

 masses or cuds, and ruminated. After this operation, it 

 is swallowed again, and passes into the second stomach 

 or reticulum. The gullet ends where these two stom 

 achs meet, and the animal has power, in a great meas- 

 ure, to direct the food into either. This peculiar con- 

 struction of the stomachs gives an important hint on the 

 administration of medicine. [See next article.] 



The second stomach consists of a great number of 

 cells on the inside, resembling honey-comb. In this the 

 food is further prepared, and then it passes to the third 

 stomach, manifold or maniplus. 



From the third stomach the food passes into the 

 fourth, called the red. A ruminating animal will be 

 satisfied with one third less food than another of equal 

 bulk that does not chew the cud. The reason is .obvi- 

 ous ; as ruminating animals have many and strong 

 digestive powers, and a greater amount of nutriment is 

 taken up from the food. 



Calves and lambs do not chew the cud while on milk, 

 which descends directly to the fourth stomach. It is this 

 stomach of the calf, with the milk curdled in it, that is 

 used for making rennet. The most favorable time to 

 kill the calf for this purpose is about two hours after 

 .sucking. After the food leaves the stomach, it meets with 

 the bile secreted by the liver and deposited in the gall 

 bladder, which further prepares it, and the panci^as or 

 sweetbread, and spleen, contribute also to digestion. As 

 the food passes along the intestines, the nutritious part 

 is absorbed by vessels, and is taken up in the circulation, 

 and carried to all parts of the body, and the in nutritious 

 part is reduced into excrement, and expelled. 



