The Kimball graphic. (Kimball, Brule County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1905, 1884-09-26
aafull-grown animal wlithas much cream
Of tartar in the morning feed or ina
bran-mash in the EVENING". N. 81.
chewinrtae,0rd

Onowang
From the scicnhfc American
Every child in the country has stood
and watched this curious operation. and
wondered what the lump was which he
saw come up the. cow'ssthroat and then
go down again after she had cheved ii
for a certain length Of time. And per-
haps he may have seen the anxiety
and turmoil produced on : farm by the
report that some n of the cows had
lost her cud," and as the result OF this
excitement he may have seen the alb
surd attempt to amake q new cud.n in
the hope that the COW would by such
means be restored to good condition.
There is in the minds ola large proper
ton of the readers so little understands
ing OF the true nature Of schsw.
ing the cud" that q few words
concerning it may not be amiss.
A few large tribes Of animals, of which
sheep and COWS are only familiar ex-
amples, are calledin natural history Ru-
nilnantia, because they ruminate-they
they chew their ud. They do SO be.
cause their peculiar organs of digestion
require it; they can get nourishment
in no other way. They have, tits said
In the books, four stomAchs, but the
statement is not strictly correct, fo.
the entire digestion is done in o single
one, that which is called the fourth, the
other three being only places for pre-
paratory work.
Their food is swallowed without be-
ing chewed; the chewing IS to come
later. When this unchewed food ia
swallowed it passes directly into the
first stomach, to use the common term:
but the drink which the animal takes
goes straight past the entrance Of the
first into the second. These two serve
only to soak and soften the coarsefood,
Then, when the first has done what
it can, the food passes ont Of it into the
second, and then the COW or sheep il
ready to schew the cud."
The second stomach, while busiIy al
work in soaking the food, keeps, it in
motion, and gradually rolls it up into
masses, 30 that in the small upper part
there is formed an oblong solid lump Of
the size that We recogize as the "cud.n
This the animal throws up into the
mouth, and chews with evidently, as
much satisfaction ~ the Same act 81
mastication gives us when We put the
most delicate morsels between our
teeth. When it is sufficiently chewed
the mass is swallowed and! tsIlace tax
en- by another which had been rolled
up in the meantime.
But the "cudn thus masticated does
not return othe second stomach, from
which 1t had come. It passes smoothly
into the third, q place for additional
fabrication and then into the fourth,
whose the true digestion begins and
ends.
This is, in brief, the whole story, and
we see how naturally the chewing comes
in; it is the same as in our own case,
only that it is at a different stage. of The
foods progress. And we. see, also what
closing the cud" really is. The cowsor
sheep is suffering from Indigestion; the
second stomach" has failed 10 roll mp
the little masses suitable. fosSehcRing,
and there isnothing which the poor
beast con bring up. Of course, there
fore the one thing required is TO restore
the tone and power of the stomach; not
to burden it with an aartfU cud, which
would only increase the difficulty, M
stead OF relieving ii.