Organs of the Animal Body: their Forms and Uses. 43 
Fig. 29. — General view of the Intestines of the Ox ; right face. 
A. First intestine (duodenum) ; b. Loose or floating portion of small intestine; n. Caacum; E. Its 
point directed backwards; f. ]>arge colon ; G, h. End portion of the intestine. 
Three organs in the abdominal cavity are to be seen after 
the stomach and intestines have been removed ; two of them 
belong to the digestive system, the liver and the pancreas 
(sweetbread), and one, the spleen or milt, occupies an office of 
somewhat doubtful nature. 
The liver is a large gland, the general appearance of which is 
familiar to every one ; its work is to secrete the bile, which is 
poured into the first intestine through a tube or duct, and in most 
animals a part of the secretion is stored up in the gall-bladder, 
which does not exist in the horse. 
The pancreas is placed in front of the kidneys. In structure 
it resembles the glands in the region of the head which secrete 
the saliva, and in function it is somewhat allied to them. Two 
ducts or tubes pass from the pancreas to the intestines ; one, 
the larger one, enters the intestine with the bile-duct, and 
a smaller one enters the intestine opposite the entrance of the 
other one. 
Spleen or milt is the name given to a long narrow organ 
lying against the diaphragm, in contact with the large curvature 
of the stomach. It is remarkable for the number and the size 
of its blood-vessels. To the farmer it will be interesting as 
the organ which is most affected in splenic fever. 
Uses of the Digestive Organs. — On the right performance of 
the digestive process depends the success of the efforts of the 
farmer to produce his stock on the market in a fit state for the 
butcher ; digestion means in effect the changing of the food on 
which an animal lives into the materials which build up its 
tissues, and, without going too far into the details of the 
