494 DR KNOX on the Structure of the Stomach 



somewhat in structure, and the muscular bands for closing their 

 apertures are not so powerful as in those of the first stomach. 



The second stomach opens into the third by an aperture 

 somewhat larger than the finger. The third stomach is, toge- 

 ther with the cellular character of the first and second, that 

 which in a peculiar way assimilates the camel and lama. It is a 

 small surface, marked by elevations which cross each other at 

 right angles, and seem to occupy merely the upper part of what 

 I call the fourth stomach, there being no contraction betwixt it 

 and the fourth ; but DAUBENTON shewed long ago in the camel, 

 that this surface is actually a stomach, and the fact is now ad- 

 mitted by all anatomists *. What its nature or function may 

 be, it seems impossible to conjecture ; there is no natural con- 

 traction betwixt it and the stomach which follows, which we shall 

 call the fourth stomach. 



This cavity is characterized by longitudinal folds in the 

 axis of its tube. They are about twenty in number, and of to- 

 lerable regularity. Between the fourth and fifth stomachs there 

 is a natural contraction, and this latter cavity is further charac- 

 terized by having a smooth, soft, and, as it were, pulpy mucous 

 surface, destitute of cells, furrows, ridges, or prominences of any 

 kind. The pyloric orifice of the stomach resembles that in other 

 ruminants, and the duodenum is at first slightly dilated. 



In no part of its anatomy, then, does the lama more closely 

 resemble the camel than in the structure of its stomach. 



It may here be asked, what proofs have we that the lama 

 possesses the same power of abstinence from drink as the camel ? 

 To this it may be answered, that a similar structure ought to 

 produce a similar result ; and although I do not myself consider 

 it as satisfactorily made out, that the mechanism by which the 



* The calling it a rudimentary stomach, analogous to one found in the ox, sheep, 

 and common ruminants, does not elucidate the matter greatly. 



