SUMMARY.
1. The process of dissolving and changing the food so that it may be absorbed and may nourish the body is digestion.
2. The work of digestion is chiefly done in the digestive tube or canal, which is about thirty feet in length.
3. The mouth contains the teeth, and has three pairs of salivary glands connected with it, which make saliva.
4. The gullet leads from the mouth to the stomach.
5. The stomach is pear-shaped, and holds about three pints.
6. It has an upper and a lower opening, each of which is guarded by a muscle, which keeps its contents from escaping.
7. The lower opening of the stomach is called the pylorus.
8. The stomach forms the gastric juice.
9. The intestines are about twenty-five feet long. They form the intestinal juice.
10. The liver lies under the ribs of the right side. It is about half as large as the head. It makes bile.
11. When not needed for immediate use, the bile is stored up in a sac called the gall-bladder.
12. The pancreas is a gland which lies just back of the stomach. It makes pancreatic juice.
13. The spleen is found near the pancreas.
14. There are five important digestive organs—the mouth, the stomach, the intestines, the liver, and the pancreas.
15. There are five digestive fluids—saliva, gastric juice, intestinal juice, bile, and pancreatic juice.