The Stomachs and Guts. 
the Glands too fuddainly 3 it fbmetimes corrodes or breaks 
them, and fo makes way for Blood alfo : as may be obferv d 
in the Guts of fuch as die of a Dyfe?itry. 
The Ufe of the Cczcum is manifold, but divers in divers 
Animals 5 according to the make of it, and the Relation it 
bears to the Stomachs and the Guts. And firft, for the moil 
part, it ferves to give a fecond Deliberate Concoction to 
the meat, that nothing nutritive in it may be loft. For 
which purpofe, it is always furnilh'd with Glands, as well as 
the other Guts. And,with refpect to its width,is commonly 
but thin,or lefs mufcular,that fo being lefs apt to conftnnge 
it felf, it may give a due time of (lay to the meat delivered 
to it. For which end alfo it is placed out of the common 
Road of the Guts $ that being thereby lefs receptive of their 
P er ift alt ic /^Motion j it may lie the more (till. For the fame 
intent the Cacum in a Sheep hath feveral Flexures anfwerable 
to thofe in the ^th Stomach or Abomafus. And in a Hog, 'tis 
drawn up into Cells on both fides, like the Colon, to make 
itfo much the more retentive. In the Coney, the fame is 
done ftill more effectually, by the fpiral Plate, or Connivent 
Valve winding from end to end. And in the Horfe, not by 
two only 3 but fourjlows of Cells on the four fides. In which 
two laft Animals the faid Ufe is fo eminent, that the Caecum, 
confidering its bignefs withall, is the chief Stomach, and 
much fuperior to the Stomach fo call'd. And it is alfo ob- 
fervable, That the Abomafideus in a Rat, hath the fame re- 
lation to the C<zcum $ as in a Sheep, the Abomafm hath to the 
other Stomachs. Hence likewife it jmy be, that fome Ani- 
mals have little or no Cczcum : either becaufe the meat is fo 
diffoluble, as not to need a fecond deliberate Concoction, as 
m&Weefle^ or for that Nature hath made fomething elfe 
to ferve without it 5 as thofe feveral Contractions in the 
Guts of a Cat-j and the Valvule* Conniventes in the fmall 
Guts of a Man. Where we may obferve, That thefe Valves 
are not every where fpiral, as is thought, but do alfo make 
fome perfect anddiftinct Rings : whereby they are fitter to 
retard the motion of the meat in its defcent. 
Another Ufe may be, For a Retreat $ Either to the meat, 
if it (hould chance to rufh too faft into the Gur below it : Or 
to the Excrements, in cafe the Animal is diverted from a 
prefent ejection of them. 
The 
