Digestive System
In the digestive system, mucus is used as a lubricant for materials that must pass over membranes, e.g., food passing down the esophagus. A layer of mucus along the inner walls of the stomach is vital to protect the cell linings of that organ from the highly acidic environment within it. Mucus is not digested in the intestinal tract. Mucus is also secreted from glands within the rectum due to stimulation of the mucous membrane within.
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“Those words freedom and opportunity do not mean a license to climb upwards by pushing other people down. Any paternalistic system that tries to provide for security for everyone from above only calls for an impossible task and a regimentation utterly uncongenial to the spirit of our people.”
—Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882–1945)