INTRODUCTION. 9 



there was none either in the many-plies or in the 

 reed. 



He then proceeded to ascertain the effect of sub- 

 stances previously comminuted. He caused a certain 

 quantity of carrots to be reduced to a kind of mash, 

 with which he fed two sheep, and opened them imme- 

 diately afterwards. He found the greatest part of this 

 mash in the paunch and in the honeycomb ; but he 

 likewise found a certain portion in the many-plies and 

 iu the reed. 



His next experiments were made upon plain fluids. 

 It is the opinion of the generality of authors on this 

 subject that fluids pass immediately and entirely, along 

 the gastro-duct, into the third and fourth cavities. But, 

 according to the experiments of M. Flourens, this is 

 not the case. He found, by making artificial openings 

 (anus artificiel) in the stomachs of various sheep, that, 

 as the animals drank, the fluid came directly out at 

 the opening, in whatever cavity it might have been 

 made. 



It is clear, then, that fluids pass, in part, into the 

 first and second cavities, and, in part, into the third 

 and fourth ; and they pass as directly into the former 

 as into the latter. 



The following is the result of some experiments 

 which M. Flourens made respecting the formation of 

 the pellets. 



In the first place, after the animal has swallowed a 

 certain quantity of food the first time, successive pellets 

 are formed of this food, which remount singly to the 



