But the most interesting part of the internal construction of Nasalis
is the great stomach, which does not consist of a simple bag, with
an opening for the food to enter from the gullet and œsophagus or
food pipe, and with another at the opposite end to carry the digested
food to the intestines, but is complex, there being three bags united
together. The first two of these bags are for the storage and reception
of food, and the other, which ends in the canal leading to the
intestines, is for its digestion. This compound stomach is peculiar to
the Semnopitheci and the Colobi amongst the Monkeys. It exists in the
most perfect form in the animals which chew the cud or ruminate, such
as oxen. It is noticed also, more or less, in the Cetacea, or Whale
tribe, in the Sloths, in the Cony, or Hyrax, in the fruit-eating Bats
of the genus Pteropus, and finally in some Kangaroo-like animals. It is
possible that the Semnopitheci may bring back more food into the mouth
and chew it again, or the first two expansions of the stomach may be
really simple receptacles and storehouses grown in the place of the
cheek-pouches; or the condition may be a reversion, or going back, to
the condition of some remote ancestor.
[Illustration: STOMACH OF THE LONG-NOSED MONKEY.]
The large intestine is also very bulged out here and there, and this
and the large stomach occupy much space in the cavity of the belly,
compressing the bowels within smaller bounds than in the larger Monkeys.
Bezoars are found in the sacs of the stomach of the different kinds
of Semnopitheci, and were and may be still much prized. They are
potent charms and remedies against poisons, and are supposed to
possess extraordinary virtues. The name comes from the Persian,
writes the learned author of the article “Bezoars,” in the “Penny
Cyclopædia”--_Pêd-zahr_, expelling poison, the expeller of poison.
“Pêd” is relieving and curing, and “Zahr” is poison. Bezoars are
sometimes found in various parts, but chiefly in the stomachs of land
animals. They are either natural or artificial, and as they are rare,
they are worth many times their weight in gold. Those which were most
esteemed in Europe came from the East, and were the earliest used. The
most highly prized came from the stomachs of the wild goat of Persia,
and they were called by way of eminence, _Lapis Bezoar Orientalis_,
and all such things which were supposed to be antidotes were called
_Bezoardic_. They are still esteemed in the East, but have long fallen
into disuse in Europe, the chemist and the naturalist having abolished
their value by exposing their real nature. They are the round hard
balls which are found in the stomachs of many animals, and which
consist of hair licked off and swallowed, and food of every clinging
nature cemented together by mucus. They get too large to pass out of
the stomach, either by vomiting or by going through the small canal
into the intestine, and therefore become round by being rolled about,
and often very great.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account