140 VETERINAEY HYGIENE 



The length of time occupied during stomach digestion is 

 generally in proportion to the amount of nitrogen contained 

 in the food ; thus hay and straw pass out of the stomach 

 more rapidly than oats. If hay be given before oats, it is 

 found that in the stomach they are arranged in the order 

 of their arrival ; namely, the hay occupies the greater and 

 the oats the lesser curvature, and there is no mixing of the 

 foods excepting at the pylorus, the line of demarcation 

 between the two being very sharp. 



If oats be given before hay, the former is deposited in 

 the greater and the latter in the lesser curvature of the 

 stomach, and the foods remain distinct excepting at the 

 pylorus. 



Hay is invariably found during the early part of diges- 

 tion to pass out of the stomach quicker than oats ; but 

 towards the end of the process the oats pass out more 

 quickly than hay, which appears to remain behind as 

 ballast, and may not enter the intestines for six or eight 

 hours. 



According to Colin' s experiments, hay given after oats 

 causes the latter to be sent into the intestines before being 

 fully acted on in the stomach ; he argues, therefore, that 

 the logical method is to give hay first and then the corn 

 ration. 



Although the food arranges itself in layers in the 

 stomach, in the order in which it arrives, yet these layers 

 can be broken up by the ingestion of a large quantity of 

 water, which at the same time carries into the intestines 

 portions of food unfit for intestinal digestion. Water given 

 in small quantities does not disturb this arrangement of 

 layers. 



In feeding with a mixture of foods such as chaff, maize, 

 corn, etc., it is found that in the stomach the different 

 foods still remain mixed, and pass into the intestines 

 together. 



The stomach begins to empty itself very early after the 

 commencement of a meal ; as soon as the viscus has 

 attained a certain volume material passes out, and the 



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