INTRODUCTION. 
467 
the food first taken into the paunch has been submitted tc 
it. The aliment thus re-masticated descends directly 
through the oesophagus into the third stomach. Now, as 
this latter tube communicates with three of the stomachs, 
the contents of the mouth may be sent into any of the 
three by the will of the animal. This stomach is the 
smallest of the three, and resembles a rolled-up hedgehog ; 
its external coat has broad duplicatures, like the leaves 
of a book, and is called the manyplies. (See c.) There the 
food only remains a short time, and undergoes some change 
which fits it for being received into the fourth stomach, d, 
which is called the cailette, the sides of which are wrinkled, 
and which is the true organ of digestion, corresponding 
with the same organ in man and other mammiferous 
animals. The internal coating furnishes plentifully the 
ordinary gastric secretions for facilitating digestion. There 
is a beautiful provision in Nature, that while the young 
ruminants are still feeding on milk, this stomach is the 
largest of the whole. The paunch is only developed by 
receiving increased quantities of grass, which finally gives 
it an enormous volume. The intestinal canal is very 
long, though there are but few enlargements in the great 
intestines. The caecum is likewise long, and tolerably 
smooth. 
Of all animals the ruminants are the most usefal to man. 
He can eat all parts of the animal; and it is from that he 
procures most of the flesh which constitutes his aliment. 
The passage of the food through these various stomachs 
will be easily understood, by reference to fig. 4, plate xiii. 
Its course is indicated by the direction of the probes 
a , b» The oesophagus communicates on one hand with the 
paunch, d, and on the other, with the cavities, c, e,f; and 
by the aid of a muscular fold formed by the walls of the 
