The Jackson standard. [volume] (Jackson C.H., Ohio) 1847-1888, 1884-11-06
[scientific Americana
Chewing the Cud,

Every child living in the country
has stood and watched this curious
operation, and wondered what the
lump was which he saw come up in
the cows throat, and then go down
again after she had chewed it for a
certain length of time. And perhaps
he may have seen the anxiety and
turmoil produced on a farm by the
report that some one of the cows had
''lost her. cud," and as the result of
this excitement he may have seen the
absurd attempt to make a new cud, "
in the hope that the cow would by
such means be restored to good eondi-
tion. There is in the minds of a
large proportion of the readers Of the
Scientific American (which simply
means the community so little cor
rect understanding Of the true nature
of ''chewing the cud," that few
words concerning it may not be
amiss.
A very large tribe of animals, of
which sheep and cows are only
familiar examples, are called in works
of natural history Ruminantia be-
cause they all ruminate, they chew
the cud. They do so because their
peculiar organs Of digestion require it;
they can get their nourishment in no
other way They have, it is said in
the books, four stomachs, but the
statement is not strictly correct, for
the entire digestion is done in single
one, that which is called the fourth,
the other three being only places for
preparatory work. Their food is
swallowed without being chewed; the
chewing is to come later. When this
unchewed food is 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 coarse food.
When the first has done what it can,
the food passes out of it into the
second, and then the COW or sheep
is ready to ''chew the cud.'
The second stomach, while busily
at work in soaking the food. keeps it
in motion, and gradually rolls it up
into masses, so that in the small up
per part there is formed an oblong
solid lump Of the size that we recog-
nize as the "cud." This the animal
throws up into the mouth. and chews
with evidently as much satisfaction
as the same act Of mastication gives
us when we put the most delicate
morsels between our teeth. When it
is sufficiently chewed, the mass is
swallowed and its place taken by an
other which had been rolled up in the
mean time.
But the "cud' thus masticated does
not return to the second stomach,
from which it had come. It passes
smoothly into the third, a place for
additional fabrication, and then into
the fourth, where the true digestion
begins and ends.
This is, in brief, the whole story.
and we see how naturally the chew
ing comes in; it is the same as in our
own case, only that it is at different
stage Of the foods progress. And we
see also what closing the cud" really
is. The COW or sheep is suffering
from indigestion; the second stom-
ach" has failed to roll up the little
masses suitable for chewing, and there
is nothing which the poor beast can
bring up. Of course, therefore. the
one thing required is to restore the
tone and power Of the stomach; not
to burden it with an artificial cud, -
which would only increase the diff
Guilty, instead of relieving it.