52 Dr. Hastings on the 



Experiment 4. 



1 killed a dog three hours after having given him seven ounces 

 of raw mutton. 



The stomach was not much distended. Near the pylorus was 

 a yellow matter resembling bile. There was a mass of meat in 

 the stomach considerably changed in its appearance, and some 

 thick fluid, not unlike broth, which altogether weighed four 

 ounces. The duodenum was rather full. The lacteals in the 

 middle of the mesentery carried some chyle. The gall-bladder 

 was rather flaccid. 



A few experiments, shewing, that no changes in the food, at 

 all similar to those above detailed, ever take place after the 

 eighth pair of nerves are divided in the neck, may now be 

 laid before the reader. 



Experiment 5. 



1 took two rabbits, of the same age and size, and kept them 

 without food for several hours. I then allowed them to eat some 

 cabbage, taking care to give each the same quantity. Imme- 

 diately afterwards I cut out a portion of the nerve of the eighth 

 pair on each side of the neck of one of them. The breathing 

 soon became affected. I gave each of them some parsley an 

 hour after the nerves were divided. Soon afterwards the animal 

 which had been operated on made ineffectual efforts to vomit. 

 The breathing soon became much worse, the animal gasped 

 much, and died in eleven hours after the operation. The 

 other rabbit was then killed. 



On examining the rabbit in which the nerves were divided, 

 the lungs were found dark in patches, and the bronchia were 

 loaded with mucus. The oesophagus was greatly distended with 

 parsley. The stomach was very large. The cardiac portion of 

 the stomach was very full of a greenish matter, which looked 

 precisely as cabbage does which is contained in the stomach of 

 a rabbit immediately after a meal. On looking over the contents, 

 small portions of cabbage were very evident. Those parts near 

 the surface of the stomach were browner, but were not at all 



