Little Falls transcript. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1876-1894, 1884-09-19

From The seierstse Americaa

From the seierslfis American
Every child In the country has stosd
and watched this curious operation. and
wondered what the Imp was which hs
saw come up the cows threat and then
go down again after she had chewed ID
for certain length Of time. And per-
haps he may have seen the anxiety
and turmoil produced ON farm by che
report that some one OF the cows hasf
"lost her cud," and as the result OF sIis
excitement he may have seen the ali
surd attempt TO make new eudy IN
the hope that the cow would by such
means be restored TO good condition
There is IN the minds Of large proper
ton OF the readers SO little understand
ing of the true nature Of chew
ing the cTld" that few words
concerning it may not be- amiss.
4 few large tribes Of animals, Of which
sheep and cows are only fnnilIar ex-
amples, are called in natural history Rg-
nlinantia, because they runinate-they
they chew their end. They do so be-
cause their peculiar organs Of digestion
require it; they ear get nourishment
in no other way. They have, It Is said
in the books, four stomHchs, bu5 shs
statement is not strictly correct. for
the entire digestion is done IN 3 single
one, that which IS called the fourth, the
other three being only places fcE pre-
paratory work.
Their food IS swallowed without be-
ing chewed; the chewing Is - come
later. When this unchowe5 focd u
swallowed it passes directly into the
first stomach, to Use the comm 7 term;
but the drink winch the animal takes
goes straight past the entrance Of she
fist into the second Tht,se two serve
only to soak and soften Che {, arse ,od.
Then, when the first mas JsDe what
it can, the food passes ont Of It into the
second, and then The cow or sheep Il
ready to ''ch,w the end
The second - ,,r ach, Will. bueIIy at
work in soaking the to'r1 keeps 1t in
motion, and gralually Us it up into
masses, SO that in sha mall upper part
there is formed m rob,ng $ollI lump #
the size that We reroglZc ~ Shn "cud"
This the animal throws mp INTO tie
mouth, and chews with eridont!r, az
much satisfact on as the same act Of
mastication gives "a when wn put tbs
most delicate uorsels between our
teeth. When It is sufficiently ch"wad
the mass is swallowed aud its place tux
en- by another which had beeA lIsf
up in the meantime.
. But the "cud" thus masticatel ,pes
not return to the second stomach. from
which 1t hal eoule, It passes snl"thl7
into the third, a place for additional
fabrication and then into the forr-i
whese the trre digestion begins Ar5
ends.
This is. III brief, the Whole s50rv. an3
we see how naturally the chewing comes
IN; it is the same as in our own ,rlse
only that it is st different stage + the
foods progress: And We see also what
losing the cud" really Is. The CIV II
sheep is suffering from indigestion: the
Second stomach" has Eaile2 +" RI Up
the little masses suitable for chewing,
and there is nothing which the po0c
beast can bring mp. OF course, there
fore the one thing required is to restore
the tone and power of the stomach: net
to burden il with an "artf'lI end which
would only increase the difficulty, m
stead Of relieving it.