DIGESTION OP POOD. 



325 



of the cesophagus, and with little if any digestive function. It 

 thus appears that the stomach of the horse is in reality smaller, 

 as a true digestive gland, than it seems, so that a great part of 

 the work of digestion must be done in the intestine ; though in 

 this animal, if the food be retained as long as it is in the hog, 

 which is not, however, the general opinion as regards the 

 stomach of the horse, salivary digestion may continue for a 

 considerable period after the food has left the mouth. The 

 secretion of mucus by the stomach in herbivora is abundant. 



As has been already explained, the stomach of ruminants 

 consists of several compartments which are supplementary to 

 one another, though genuine gastric digestion does not take 

 place except in the fourth stomach. 



The first and second stomachs being destitute of other than 

 mucous glands, and lined with a homy epithelium, are to be con- 

 sidered rather as dilatations of the oesophagus. They answer 

 admirably the purpose of storehouses for the bulky food in 

 which the softening process preparatory to mastication goes on. 



Fig. 267. — Stomach of tire ox seen on its right upper face, the abomasum being de- 

 pressed (Chanveaii). A, rumen, left hemisphere: B, rumen, riglit hemisphere; C, 

 termination of the oesophagus; D, reticulum; E, omasum; F, abomasum. 



