46 POULTRY FEEDING AND FATTENING 



The small stones swallowed by the fowl are found 

 in the gizzard, and naturalists say they facilitate the 

 operation of digestion by the contracting of the mus- 

 cular lining, causing the stones to grind the food. This 

 last stomach is formed by a thick and very strong 

 muscular membrane, the external fibers of which are 

 of a tendonous nature. The internal membrane which 

 lines the gizzard is very thin, fibrous and hard. It 

 secretes a coloring matter, which appears to have the 

 property to dissolve stones, principally carbonate of 

 lime. Flint requires a longer process. Liquids taken 

 as drink appear to be absorbed by the first and second 

 stomachs; they are never found in the gizzard unless 

 in case of disease. It is worthy of remark that a hen 

 eats, when in health, about two ounces of limy or flinty 

 sand a day. The salivary glands are small in a towl 

 and produce a liquid thick and slimy, but the quantity 

 is very small. 



The liver is very large and divided into two lobes 

 of equal size. The gall bladder is attached to the liver 

 and contains a thick bile, very bitter. The pancreas 

 pours a fluid into the intestines by two small tubes. 

 The spleen is very small, of cylindrical shape and placed 

 behind the liver. Its function seems to be to keep in 

 reserve and prepare the blood used as one of the secre- 

 tions necessary to digestion. The circulatory apparatus 

 is not different from that of animals. The heart has 

 four cavities and the arteries are the same. 



In Figure 6 the abdominal muscles have been 

 removed, as well as the sternum, heart, trachea, the 

 greater portion of the neck, and all the head except the 

 lower jaw, which has been turned aside to show the 

 tongue, the pharynx and the entrance to the larynx. 

 The left lobe of the liver, succentric ventricle, gizzard 

 and intestinal mass have been pushed to the right 

 to exhibit the different portions of the alimentary 



