14 Dr. Prout on the Phenomena of Sanguification, [JAn. 
either neutralized or destroyed. In this instance also, the inner 
coat of the stomach, especially in the neighbourhood of the 
pylorus, was dissolved.* 
Phenomena of Digestion in a Pigeon.—The animal, which was 
the subject of the present examination, was young, but fully 
fledged, and had been fed about two hours bellied it was killed 
upon a mixture of barley and peas. It was opened and exa- 
mined immediately after death. In the crop was a portion of 
the food, which was swollen and soft, but appeared to have 
undergone no further sensible change than what might have 
been expected from mere heat and moisture. This organ did not 
exhibit any indications ofthe presence of an acid. The gizzard, 
or stomach, contained corn in various states of decomposition, 
the internal parts of some of the seeds being reduced to a milky 
pulp, which flowed out on their being subjected to pressure; 
* Since the above observations were published, Dr. Wilson Philip has given 
amore extended account of the phenomena of the digestive process in this animal ; 
an abstract of which I shall lay before my readers. 
‘“‘The first thing” says Dr. P. ‘*‘ which strikes the eye on inspecting the sto- 
machs of rabbits which have lately eaten is, that the new is never mixed with the 
old food. The former is always found in the centre surrounded on all sides by the 
old food, except that on the upper part between the new food and the smaller curv- 
ature of the stomach, there is sometimes little or no old food. If the old and the 
new food are of different kinds, and the animal be killed after taking the latter, 
unless a great length of time has elapsed after taking it, the line of separation is 
perfectly evident, so that the old may be removed without disturbing the new food. 
“« Ifthe old and the new feod be of the same kind, and the animal is allowed to 
live for a considerable time after taking the latter, the gastric juice passing from the 
old to the new food, and changing as it pervades it, renders the line of separation 
indistinct ; but towards the small curvature of the stomach, and still more towards 
the centre of the new food, we find it, unless it has been very long in the stomach, 
comparatively fresh and undisturbed. All around, the nearer the food lies to the 
surface of the stomach the more it is digested, This is true even with regard to 
the small curvature compared with the food near the centre, and the food which 
touches the surface of the stomach is always more digested than any other found in 
the same part of the stomach. But unless the animal has not eaten for a great 
length of time, it is in very different stagesin different parts of the stomach, It is 
least digested in the small curvature, more in the large one, and still more in the 
middle of the great curvature. 
s¢These observations apply to the cardiac portion ofthe stomach,” ‘* The food in 
the pyloric portion of the stomach of the rabbit is always found in a state very 
different from that just described. It is more equally digested, the central parts 
differing less in this respect from those which lie next the surface of the stomach.” 
“© One of the most remarkable differences between the state of the food in the car- 
diac and pyloric portions of the stomach is, that in the Jatter it is comparatively 
dry ; in the former, mixed with a large proportion of fluid, particularly when 
digestion is pretty far advanced, and time consequently has been given for a consj- 
derable secretion from the stomach.” 
Thus continues Dr, Philip: ‘‘ It appears that in proportion as the food is digested, 
it is moved along the great curvature, when the change in it is rendered more per- 
fect to the pyloric portion. The layer of food lying next the surface of the stomach 
is first digested. In proportion as this undergoes the proper change, it is moved 
on by the muscular action of the stomach, and that next in turn succeeds to undergo 
the same change. Thusa continual motion is going on; that part of the food which 
lies next the surface of the surface passing towards the pylorus, and the more cen- 
tral parts approaching the surface,” 
Dr, Philip has remarked, that the great end of the stomach is the part most 
usually found acted upon by the digestive fluids after death. 
