Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1909-10-08


MORE QUICKLY AND COMPLETELY THAN
WHOLE GRAIN.
buminOids also form q considerable
portion Of these parts Of the body.
Their chief use. however. Is In build
Ing up the muscles. tissues and vari-
Gus organs. The fats and carbohy-
drates are used to furnish energy and
heat. They are the fuel Of the body.
BY uniting with oxygen they give off the
heat and energy required to keep the
body running. In much the same way
that the elements Of coal or wood
unite with oxygen to furnish heat and
power when burned in steam engine.
Not all Of the fats and carbohydrates
are burned Immediately. however.
Some of the fats go to build up fatty
tissues Some Of the carbohydrates
are changed to fats and used in the
same way. and some are stored In the
liver In the form Of glycogen to be
used when needed.
Before these various food elements
can be used by the animal they must
go through process called digestion.
The first step In digestion consists In
taking the food into the mouth. Each
class Of animals has a different way
Of doing this. Watch the cows feed
ing In the pasture. They reach out
their long tongues ard gather III a
mouthful Of grass, breaking it Off with
u peculiar twist as 1t comes against
their lower teeth. They cannot bite 1t
off, since they have no upper teeth
in front The horse gathers In the
grass with his lips and bites 1t of be-
tween his teeth. For this reason
horses can eat grass down much closer
to the ground than cattle can.
After the food Is taken into the
mouth 1t Is chewed and mixed with
saliva. This saliva serves two pur-
poscs-tO moisten the food and to
change some Of the starch to sugar.
This change Is brought about by the
action Of engines which the saliva
contains. These work In the same
way as do the engines in germi-
mating seed. which prepare the food
for the little plant.
Sugar and starch, as we have learn
ed. are both composed Of carbon, hy-
drogen and oxygen. the only differ
ence being that they are put together
In little different way. The action
Of the engines changes the relation
Of these elements In the starch. ar
ranging them in such manner as to
form sugar.
All the starch In the food must be
changed to some form Of sugar be-
fore 1t can be used by the animal in
building up the various parts Of its
body. Since the food remains In the
mouth only comparatively short
time, however, only small part of the
starch can be acted upon there. The
rest is changed later, as we shall see.
The main purpose Of the saliva Is to
mOisten the food This moistening, to-
gether with the chewing. reduces 1t to
moist, finely divided mass, ready
to be swallowed and acted upon by
the other digestive juices.
While the essential processes Of d.
gestion are the same for all animals.
the way In which the work Is carried
on varies somewhat The horse and
the hog have but one stomach. AS
the food enters this churning mo-
ton begins. which gradually forces
the partially digested mass along to-
ward the lower end. The saliva con-
tinues to act on the starch. and anOth-
er fluid. the gastric juice, is poured
out from the walls of the stomach.
The main duty of this gastric juice Is
to change the albuminoids into form
In which they can be absorbed and
used by the animal.