Sections: Prologue | Before Lewis & Clark | Lewis & Clark | After Lewis & Clark When Thomas Jefferson sent Lewis and Clark into the West, he patterned their mission on the methods of Enlightenment science: to observe, collect, document, and classify.
Partially digested food, or chyme, from the stomach is mixed with bile from the liver and pancreatic juice from the pancreas to complete its digestion in the duodenum. The jejunum is the middle section of the small intestine that serves as the primary site of nutrient absorption. It measures around 3 feet in length. The ileum is the final section of the small intestine that empties into the large intestine via the ileocecal sphincter.
The small intestine is about as big around as a middle finger, but it is about 22 feet (6.7 meters) long. Credit: Sebastian Kaulitzki | Shutterstock There are two types of intestines: the small intestine, also called the small bowel, and the large intestine. The small intestine is a long, winding tube connected to the stomach. It handles most of the digestion process. Size. The small intestine is only about as big around as a middle finger, according to the MUSC Digestive Disease Center.