All these parts have been so contrived by nature
as to harmonize with the various operations that relate to the food
and its residue. For, as the residual food gets farther on and lower
down, the space to contain it enlarges, allowing it to remain
stationary and undergo conversion. Thus is it in those animals
which, owing either to their large size, or to the heat of the parts
concerned, require more nutriment, and consume more fodder than the
rest.
Neither is it without a purpose, that, just as a narrower gut
succeeds to the upper stomach, so also does the residual food, when
its goodness is thoroughly exhausted, pass from the colon and the
ample space of the lower stomach into a narrower channel and into
the spiral coil. For so nature can regulate her expenditure and
prevent the excremental residue from being discharged all at once.
In all such animals, however, as have to be comparatively moderate
in their alimentation, the lower stomach presents no wide and roomy
spaces, though their gut is not straight, but has a number of
convolutions. For amplitude of space causes desire for ample food, and
straightness of the intestine causes quick return of appetite. And
thus it is that all animals whose food receptacles are either simple
or spacious are of gluttonous habits, the latter eating enormously
at a meal, the former making meals at short intervals.
Pages:
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168