FOOD 



91 



Dieting as dealt with by the human hygienist, is much 

 simplified by the fact that he has only one system of 

 digestive organs to deal with; but with the veterinary 

 hygienist the matter is different, he has at least three, 

 and if we considered the feeding of dogs, four totally 

 different arrangements of digestive canal to legislate for. 

 What is right and proper for one is quite unsuited to 

 the other ; the feeding of cattle differs much from the 

 feeding of horses, and the feeding of swine is different 

 from either. 



The arrangement of the digestive apparatus of animals 

 has an important bearing on their system of feeding. The 

 small and single stomach of the horse, the capacious bowels, 

 and the absence of a gall bladder, are in marked distinction 

 to the enormous stomachs of the ox, the small intestines, 

 and the presence of a gall bladder. Such anatomical dif- 

 ferences in animals both belonging to the class herbivora, 

 point to considerable difference in their process of alimen- 

 tation. 



The following table, compiled from Colin,* will show how 

 different are the proportions in every 100 parts of the 

 gastro-intestinal organs of various domesticated animals : 



The ratio between the length of the body and that of the 

 intestines is as follows : Horse, 1 : 12 ; ox, 1 : 20 ; sheep, 

 1 : 27 ; pig, 1 : 14. 



Putting aside the differences in the horse and ox in the 

 arrangement of the teeth, salivary and biliary secretion, 

 rumination, etc., we have sufficient data in the above to 

 ■■'• ' Physiologie Comparee des Animaux.' 



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