Eighth Pair of Nerves. 53 



more digested. There was no chyle in the lacteals. The gall- 

 bladder was distended. The contents of the stomach weighed 

 two ounces and half a drachm. 



The stomach of the rabbit which had not been opeiated on 

 was much smaller. The contents of the cardiac portion were in 

 a pulpy, semi-fluid state, and there were a number of round 

 balls. No one could have distinguished that what was contained 

 in the stomach had once been cabbage, it had lost all the ex- 

 ternal characters of vegetable substance. The contents of the 

 pyloric portion were much drier. The duodenum contained 

 some chyme. The gall-bladder was full. No chyle could be 

 seen in the lacteals. The contents of the stomach weighed one 

 ounce and a drachm. 



Experiment 6. 



I fed two rabbits, of the same age and size, with equal quan- 

 tities of parsley, and immediately afterwards divided, in one of 

 them, the nerve of the eighth pair on each side of the neck. The 

 rabbit operated on immediately made a croaking noise in respi- 

 ration. In about a quarter of an hour after the nerves had been 

 divided, I gave each of them a small quantity of parsley. They 

 both ate, but the rabbit which had been the subject of the 

 experiment made frequent ineffectual eflorts to vomit. The 

 difficulty of breathing became very great immediately after- 

 wards. Each animal was now kept without food. The rabbit 

 survived the division of the nerves eighteen hours. The healthy 

 animal was then killed. 



The stomach of the rabbit, whose nerves had been divided, 

 appeared large. On opening it, the food did not seem to have 

 undergone any other change than that which would be effected 

 by mastication, by moisture, and by lying in so high a tem- 

 perature for such a number of hours. The bits of parsley were 

 quite visible, and the only difference that I could distinguish 

 between what was found in the stomach and chopped parsley 

 was, that the layer of the former, which had been lying next 

 the surface of the stomach, had lost, in some degree, its green 

 colour, having become somewhat brown. The whole of the 



