8 INTRODUCTION. 



M. Flourens repeated this experiment a great many 

 times, with herbs of various kinds, and the result was 

 constantly the same : from which it appears, that her- 

 baceous food, on its first deglutition, enters into the 

 honeycomb, as well as into the paunch ; the proportion* 

 however, being considerably greater into the paunch 

 than into the honeycomb. It appears equally certain 

 that, in the first swallowing, this kind of food only 

 enters into the first two cavities, and never passes into 

 the many -plies or the reed. 



Having ascertained this fact with respect to herbs, 

 he instituted a similar series of experiments, in which 

 the animals were fed upon various kinds of grain, 

 rye, barley, wheat, oats, &c. The animals were killed 

 and examined, as in the former experiments, imme- 

 diately after being fed. He found the greater part of 

 the grain unmasticated (tout entier] in the paunch ; 

 but, as in the case of the herbs, he also found a 

 certain portion, in the same unmasticated state, in 

 the honeycomb. Neither the many-plies nor the 

 reed contained a single grain. He repeated these 

 experiments many times, and always with the same 

 result. 



He then tried the effect of carrots cut into pieces, 

 from half an inch to an inch in length ; and in order 

 that the animals might not chew them, he passed them 

 into the pharynx by means of a tube. In one of these 

 sheep he found all the morsels in the paunch ; but, in 

 the other two, some of the morsels were in the honey- 

 comb, and some in the paunch. In all the three cases, 



