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STOKHOD 97 STOMACH War, between Austrian and German troops and the Russians. It was in this region, during July, 1916, when the Rus- sian armies were driving the Teutons before them, that the Germans made a de- termined stand. Victorious along all other parts of the Eastern front, the Russians made futile attacks with very strong forces at several points against the Ger- man line along the Stokhod river, notably near Czereviscze, Janmaka and on both sides of the railway running from Kovel to Rovno. Here, during the middle of July, 1916, the Germans received strong re-en- forcements and powerful artillery. It was the German resistance here which saved the whole front of the Central Em- pires from a crushing defeat. STOLA, a loose garment worn by Roman matrons over the tunic. To the bottom of it a border or flounce was sewed, the whole reaching down so low as to conceal the ankles and part of the feet. It was the characteristic dress of the Roman matrons, as the toga was of the men; divorced women or courtesans were not allowed to wear it. It was usu- ally gathered and confined at the waist by a girdle, and frequently ornamented at the throat by a colored border. It has either short or long sleeves, and was fastened over the shoulder by a fibula. STOLE, a long, loose garment extend- ing to the feet; also the sucker or shoot of a plant. In the Roman Catholic Church, a narrow band of silk or stuff, sometimes enriched with embroidery and jewels, worn on the left shoulder of dea- cons, and across both shoulders of bish- ops and priests, pendent on each side nearly to the ground; — used in the ad- ministration of the sacraments and all other sacred functions. STOLP, a town in the Prussian prov- ince of Pomerania; on the river Stolp, 85 miles W. by N. of Danzig; has a castle, some old churches (the castle chapel dating from the 13th century), iron foundries, machinery, and amber manufactures, and an active trade in agricultural products, timber, fish, etc. Pop. about 35,000. STOMACH, in comparative anatomy, a membranous sac, formed by a dilatation of the alimentary canal, in which food is received and subjected to the processes of digestion among the Vertebrata. The human stomach is an elongated, curved pouch, from 10 to 12 inches long, and 4 or 5 inches in diameter at its widest part, lying almost immediately below the diaphragm, nearly transversely across the upper and left portion of the abdominal cavity, and having the form of a bagpipe. It is very dilatable and contractile, and its average capacity is about 5 pints. The left and larger ex- tremity is called the cardiac, great, or splenic extremity; the right and smaller, is known as the pyloric, from its prox- imity to the pylorus. The food enters the stomach through the oesophagus by the cardia or cardiac orifice, and after having been acted on by the gastric juice, is passed on in a semi-fluid or pulpy state through the pylorus into the small in- testines. The stomach has 4 coats, named from without inward: (1) the serous, (2) the muscular, (3) the areola or sub-mucous, and (4) the mucous coat. The last is a smooth, soft, rather thick and pulpy membrane, generally reddish in color from the blood in its capillary vessels; often ash-gray in old age. After death it becomes a dirty brown, and in acute inflammation, or from the action of strong acrid poisons, it becomes of a bright red, either continuously or in patches. Corrosive poisons also affect its coloration. The surface of the mu- cous membrane is beset with secreting glands. The stomach is supplied with blood from the coeliac artery, which gives off arterial branches that ramify freely, and the veins return the residual blood into the splenic and superior mesenteric veins, and directly into the portal vein. The lymphatics of the stomach are very numerous, and arise in the mucous mem- brane. The nerves are large, and con- sist of the terminal branches of the two pneumogastric nerves belonging to the cerebro-spinal system, and of offsets from the sympathetic system derived from the solar plexus. Their ending has not been traced. Medical electricians have devised a plan by which the interior of the human stomach may be illuminated for exami- nation. The interior of the stomach is plainly lighted and all its parts are brought into view by a small movable mirror at the end of the tube. In the lower mammals three forms of stomach have been distinguished: (1) Simple, consisting of a single cavity, as in man; (2) Complex, in which there are two or more compartments communicating with each other, as in the kangaroo, the por- cupine, and the squirrel; (3) Compound, in which the stomach is separated into a reservoir and a digestive portion. (See Rumination.) The family Camelidm have a stomach divided into two com- partments by a muscular band — one of the points of difference between them and the other ruminants. The lining of the second stomach, or honeycomb bag, and of a portion of the first stomach, or paunch, is provided witTi a great number