STOMACH OF THE WHALE. 35 X 



vity, which resembles in shape and internal appearance 

 the human stomach, is the cavity in which chyle is formed, 

 and the upper or plicated portion i3 onjy to prepare the 

 food, and is therefore analogous to the second in the 

 whale. 



As the same appearances are met with in the fourth and of the 

 stomach of the bullock, as well as in the camel, although buliac ^ 

 there is no permanent contraction, or division betweea 

 them, the upper or plicated portion must be considered as 

 a preparatory organ, and the lower portion as that, in 

 which the formation of chyle is completed. This receives 

 farther confirmation from a more attentive examination of 

 the parts immediately after death, by which it was found, 

 that, before the stomach has been disturbed, there is a* 

 evident muscular contraction between the plicated an4 

 lower portion. This appearance was met with in everj 

 instance that was examined, and these were not fewer than 

 nine or ten. Ad4ed to this the lower portion, on a more 

 minute inspection, has an appearance somewhat similar to 

 the inner membrane of the human stomach : and the surface 

 of the plicae is in many respects different. 



From the facts and observations which have been stated, Chyle pro- 

 it appears, that, in many animals of the class mammalia, similar S ecre* # 

 the food undergoes different changes preparatory to its tion in a }l tnt 

 being converted into chyle, and this last process is effected 

 by a somewhat similar secretion, since the part of the 

 stomach which produces it has in all of them an evident 

 similarity of structure. 



The above facts appear to throw some light on the diges- 

 tion of the different kinds of food, and open a wide field 

 of inquiry into one of the most interesting parts of the 

 animal ceconomy, which has been hitherto too much neg- 

 lected. In the present very limited state of our knowledge 

 there are many circumstances, which cannot be accounted 

 for : these however will be explained, when a further pro- 

 gress has been made in this investigation. 



It is obvious, that as the stomachs of carnivorous animals Animal sub- 

 are the most simple, animal substances, on which they stances e " ier 



r 7 ' f converted intq 



feed, require a shorter process to convert them inte chyle chyle than ve- 



than vegetables 5 but why the whale tribe ; which live on s etables « 



fch, 



