Page:Substance of the Work Entitled Fruits and Farinacea The Proper Food of Man.djvu/21

 the glands are large, indeed larger than in man, with whom they are larger than in the carnivora. It is stated that those of our race who have long subsisted on vegetable food have, in consequence, the salivary glands much more developed. In any case the secretion from these glands in man is very copious, which indicates his much nearer alliance to herbivorous than to carnivorous animals,.

.— The length of this canal, as compared to the length of the backbone, is one very important fact, contrasting the carnivora and the herbivora; for the longer it is, the greater in general is the bulk of the food on which the animal subsists. In the carnivora the length of the canal may be only 3 or 5 times that of the backbone, or, in some few cases, 8 times. Herbivorous animals also vary much among themselves as to this ratio. In the hog it is 13 to 1; in apes it is 6 or 8 to 1; in the order which includes the horse and ass it varies from 6 to 11. Those who wished to lower the ratio in the case of man, in order to make out that he was naturally carnivorous, instead of measuring his backbone, as in the case of the animals with which they were comparing him, measured his height from the nape of the neck to the heels, thus improperly including the whole length of leg and thigh, by which process they made the ratio 6 or 7 to 1. Their results denote that 10 or 12 to 1 is nearer to truth. Here again we find him nearer by far to the herbivora than to the carnivora. But in the ruminants the ratio is said sometimes to reach even 28 to 1; and in the hyena, who largely eats bones, which need much digestion, the alimentary canal is about 8 times as long as the backbone. The porpoise and dolphin, which feed on fish, have a canal extremely long, but very simple in its structure.

.—The stomach of carnivora generally consists of a simple globular sac, without internal division: that of the herbivora has two or more compartments: in the ruminants it is very large and complicated; so that four stomachs are counted. The stomach of the horse is comparatively simple, but the other digestive organs, called the cæcum and the colon, compensate by their greater size. The human stomach is simple, but has two portions called cardiac and pyloric; thus occupying a middle line between the herbivorous and carnivorous mammalia.

.—The colon, which is the first of the large intestines, differs little in the carnivora from the smaller ones, and is never cellulated. In the herbivora, and in man, its dimensions are much greater, and deep cells are formed in it. The cæcum, or "blind pouch," is a prolongation of the colon. In the carnivora it is either altogether absent, or extremely small. In herbivorous and frugivorous animals it is a supplement to the stomach, being most voluminous and complex when the stomach is simplest. Those of the nibblers which feed on grain