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Human Body
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puckard rather than tube-like outside, and the longitudinal muscle being arranged in bands. The lining secretes mucus, but no digestive enzymes.
This is the fourth and last processing station of the tract. By the time it is reached, almost all the useful nutrients have already been digested and absorbed. What remain are indigestible stuff together with salts, bile-pigments, and large valuable quantities of water (the digestive juices are about 95% water). The function of the large bowel is extraction of salt and water (that can be usefully recycled) and the formation of the faeces from the indigestible food-stuffs like cellulose, bowel secretions and bacteria. The lower parts contain many organisms which manufacture a variety of useful substances including vitamin-K and several vitamins of B group as well as the smelly compounds responsible for the odour of faeces. Not all the inhabitants of our colon are hostile parasites. Millions of symbiotic (mutually helpful) bacteria live there and cause us no harm; they may indeed protect us from harmful micro-organisms.
The appendix is a blind-ended projection from the colon. It has no known useful function, but becomes a puisance when inflammed or infected by faecal material and has to be removed.
ACCESSORY ORGANS OF DIGESTION Liver, gall-bladder and pancreas are the accessory organs of digestion. They work together in the digestion and metabolism of nutrients. Apart from their production of the digestive juices, they control the storage and release of glucose regulating the energy supplies. 6. Liver and Biliary System
The liver itself is an amazing chemical factory within the body, generally underrated and abused. Even when badly damaged, its cells have enormous powers of regeneration.
The liver is the most important and an extraordinary organ which contributes to the process of digestion outside the gastro-intestinal tract. It is not only the largest but the most versatile single organ in the body. It lies in the upper
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