256 



Food and its Digestion. 



The secretion from follicles of the intestine canal con- 

 tinue and complete the digestion of the starchy (carbo-hy- 

 drates), elements of the food. 



As a general rule, the digestive apparatus of the herbi- 

 vorous animal is much more complicated than that of the 

 carnivora. In vegetable substances, the nutritious mat- 

 ters are frequently present in a solid and inconvenient 

 form, as for example in raw starch and the cereal grains, 

 and are almost always entangled among vegetable cells 

 and fibres of an indigestible character. In those cases 

 where the food consists mostly of herbage, or grass and 

 leaves, the digestive materials bear only a small propor- 

 tion to the entire quantity, consequently a large mass of 

 food must be taken in order that the requisite amount of 

 nutritive material may be obtained. In all these cases, 

 the alimentary canal will be found large and long, and 

 also divided into many compartments, wherein the differ- 

 ent processes of disintegration, transformation, and solution 

 are carried on. 



In the carnivora the alimentary canal is shorter than in 

 the herbivora, and it presents fewer complexities. The 

 food upon which the carnivora subsist is softer than that 

 of the herbivora, and also it is less encumbered with indi- 

 gestible matter, consequently the process of its digestion, 

 requires a less extensive apparatus. 



Note. — The Preparations and Apparatus used in the illustration of this 

 paper, were from the Museum and Laboratory of the Albany Medical Col- 

 lege. 



