Observations on Digestion in the Ruminant

Open Access
Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
Present-day knowledge of the physiology of digestion in ruminants is very limited and to a great extent it is based on anatomical deductions. Some of these are doubtless correct ; but many of them must be regarded merely as speculations until such time as adequate experimental proof is brought forward. It was with the object of providing this proof that the present work was undertaken. The experiments were concerned chiefly with the progress of the food through the alimentary canal, and, consequently, with the movements of the different sections of the canal itself. The ruminant owes its unique position amongst mammals to the anatomical complexity of the stomachs, and, for this reason, attention was directed particularly to the movements of these viscera. It will be an advantage, before taking up the experimental part of this paper, to consider certain important1 anatomical features and postmortem appearances and to discuss the physiological significance which it is believed can be attributed to them.