Notices respecting New Books. 135 



that the alimentary paste can re-ascend into the moutli, after 

 being divided into so manv different portions in order to occupy 

 the interior of these multifarious stomachs. In tlie second place, 

 these organs often present at their extremities a great number 

 of very minute capillary vessels, which indicate that a secretion 

 is taking place : these vessels contribute in an evident manner 

 to increase the liquid which we observe in these ventricles. 

 This liquid is so abundant, that it fills the whole capacity of 

 these viscera : it proves that they by no means exercise the 

 function of stomachs, for where could the alimentary paste be 

 lodged ? 



If these organs do not immediately assist digestion, what is 

 their use, and of what nature is the hianour which they con- 

 tain ? These are questions which the author thinks he has am- 

 ply resolved. 



All the insects which h.ave been considered as ruminating, 

 display, as already observed, a great voracity: consecjuently nature 

 has made the process of digestion with them equally prompt 

 and easy. As tlie teeth of insects triturate their food but im- 

 perfectly, this defect is supplied by rough and cutting scales, 

 with which the internal membrane of the gizzard is armed. 

 These scales, put in motion by a muscular tunic of great con- 

 tractibility, exercise an action so much the greater, as they ap- 

 proach closer in the contractions of this organ, and they are 

 besides very multifarious. 



The gizzard is not the only organ which contributes to pro- 

 mote digestion ; and the two viscera, erroneously assimilated to 

 the first stomach, the maw of ruminating animals, have not the 

 smallest share in it. They do not act by themselves, but rather 

 by the humour which th.ey secrete. This humour, on account 

 of the disj)osition of the vesicles which contain it, as well as of 

 the gizzard, may ascend into the stomach, and act in this way 

 upon the alimentary paste. But in order to exercise an effica- 

 cious action on the food, this humour must have solvent pro- 

 perties ; and analysis indicates that it is sufficiently analogous to 

 the bile. At least this alka.line humour contains a resinous 

 matter, perhaps the yellow matter, soda, albumen, and a great 

 quantity of water. This composition, partly similar to that of 

 the bile, announces that this animal fluid must have a great ac- 

 tion on the food ; which agrees perfectly with the physiological 

 facts related by the author in his work. 



Thus these two organs, which are assimilated to the first 

 stomach and to the maw of the ruminating animals, never 

 being filled with alimentary paste, do not seem to exercise the 

 «amc fiinctions with the real stomachs. Their excessive multi- 

 plication in ;i number of iauividuals is another proof of it; for it 



i 4 would 



