56 Dr. Uastmgii on the 



of the neck, after a fast of twenty hours; and immediately 

 afterwards gave it four ounces of meat cut into pieces. 



Soon after eating, the animal was restless and vomited; and 

 the breathing soon became affected. He was killed in three 

 hours after the operation. 



The stomach was much distended, and contained a con- 

 siderable quantity of gas. The mass of meat was not dis- 

 solved. The colour of the exterior part was altered; that of the 

 interior scarcely at all so. The contents weighed four ounces 

 and seven drachms. There was a quantity of mucus in the 

 stomach. The duodenum contained some mucus and some bile, 

 but no chyme. There was no chyle in the lacteals. The gall- 

 bladder was distended. 



From the above experiments it appears ; I . That, during life 

 we have symptoms of great disturbance of the functions of the 

 stomach after the division of the eighth pair of nerves in the 

 neck ; for in the rabbits, frequent ineffectual efforts to vomit 

 occurred ; and in the dog, (Experiment 9.), part of the contents 

 of the stomach was rejected. 2. That examination after death 

 shews, that digestion does not go on after the eighth pair of 

 nerves have been divided in the neck. For parsley and cabbage 

 remained in the stomachs of rabbits nearly eighteen hours, 

 without any other change, than that which had been produced by 

 mastication, and that of becoming rather of a browner colour; 

 whereas, in a healthy rabbit, whose nerves had not been 

 divided, the same substances, in a similar time, were reduced 

 to a pulp, and were in a complete state of chemical decom- 

 position. The stomachs, too, in the animals whose nerves had 

 been divided, were much distended : the contents weighing 

 nearly twice as much as the contents of the healthy stomachs. 

 And in experiment 9, where only one nerve was divided, 

 the food remained in the stomach, nearly unchanged, for forty- 

 four hours. 



In the dogs, whose nerves were divided, the stomachs were 

 very much distended, and contained a large portion of gas. 

 Moreover, the contents of the stomach, after a fast of four 

 hours, weighed more than the food which had been given at 



