78 JUDGING CATTLJE 



and then to the first stomach or paunch. After remaining 

 there for a time, the most of it is returned to the mouth 

 and remasticated ; when this is accomplished the food 

 passes through the two other stomachs and finally lodges 

 in the fourth. After undergoing a mixing process by the 

 action of the muscles of the stomach, the food passes into 

 the small intestines. Up to this time the chief action of 

 the various parts has been to break up the food, so that 

 the fluids of the body may act upon it, and make the 

 digestible and nutritive portion into a solution. In its 

 passage thus far the food has been subjected to the action 

 of the saliva of the mouth and the gastric juice of the 

 stomach, together with the bile of the liver and pancreatic 

 juice which attack it in the small intestine. The result 

 of this action is that the soluble nitrogenous material, 

 carbohydrates and salts are now in a condition to be re- 

 ceived by the blood and carried to the parts of the body 

 that make the most abundant use of it. We see from this 

 that the stomach and its aids have an important part to 

 play in preparing the food, so that it may supply the cow 

 the material to carry on her specialty, which is the making 

 of milk. 



130. Function of the Blood, The food now being in 

 a condition to be utilized by the animal economy, let us 

 see how it passes into the blood and finally reaches that 

 other great manufacturing center of the body of the dairy 

 cow, the udder. It is the blood that is the medium for 

 carrying the nutritive portions of the food to the organs 

 needing them. The mucous membrane or inner lining of 

 the small intestines is covered with a large number of 

 small glands that have the appearance of the pile on 

 velvet. These villi consist of cells and numerous small 

 branches of veins called capillaries, and they also have 

 what are known as lacteals. All the constituents, ex- 

 cepting the fat, pass through the wall of the small capil- 

 laries and these connect with the portal vein, which car- 

 ries the blood to the liver and thence to the right side of 

 the heart. The emulsified fat of the food reaches the 



