Institute of France. 143 



which ^^'ould be propagated so as to affect the system nearJy 

 like an emetic. 



It remains to INI. Magendie to distinguish with more precision 

 the pnrt acted bv the oesophagus and the diaphragm in the act 

 of \ omiting, and to examine the phaenomena of this movement 

 in bircft and other animals which have no diaphragm. 



To these experiments with antimony considered physiologically, 

 M, Magendie added some others upon its medical or deleterious 

 action; and he n-x^ertained by many observations made upon 

 human beings, and bv several experiments upon animals, that the 

 tartrite of this metaU taken in large doses, is of itself a deadly 

 prison ; but that almo-.. a]-vay« its first effect is a vom.iting, which 

 rejects the greater part before any mischief has been done : in 

 this way many suicides are disappointed in their melancholy 

 intentions. 



M. Magendie has also com.rnunicated to the Class a series of 

 experiments relative to the u^e of the ej)iglottis. This cartilage, 

 placed at tlie root of the tongue in men and quadrupeds, is ge- 

 nerally regarded as destined by nature to prevent the food fronj 

 falling into the wind-pipe. Birds and reptiles have no epiglottis, 

 and yet they experience no inconvenience from this privation ; 

 but their glottis is preserved by other means, such as the teeth 

 or excrescences with which they are most frequently bristled, so 

 that no valid objection can be taken to the comnionlv received 

 opinion. Certain individuals who have been deprived of the 

 epiglottis by accident, and w!io have nevertheless swallowed as 

 well as before, gave rise to very strong objections ; and some 

 anatomists have even concluded, that the epiglottis is intended 

 to assist the voice only, and not the act of deglutition. 



M. Magendie having removed the epiglottis from some dogs, 

 ascertained that their deglutition was not impaired : he also as- 

 certained by an immediate inspection, that the glottis contracts 

 completely at the instant of deglutition, so that nothing can pass 

 it even if the epiglottis did not exist : finally, by cutting the 

 nerves which proceed to the contractor muscles of the glottis, 

 he saw that the latter remained open and admitted the food, 

 notwithstanding the presence of the e])!glottis which he had al- 

 lowed to remain. 



It is difhcult to withhold our confidence from experiments 

 wliich agree so well with each otlicr and with known facts : it is 

 for physiologists, liowever, to inquhe v>hat (nay be the true use of 

 an organ too distinctly developed, and too constant in a whole 

 class of living beings, not to have an essential aild pafticular 

 destination. 



M. Magendie war led by his researches to examine the parti- 

 cular distribution of tho laryngal and recurrent nerves in the 



various 



