14 INTRODUCTION. 



Bluraenbach observes, that the process of rumination 

 supposes a power of voluntary motion in the oesophagus; 

 and, indeed, the influence of the will throughout the 

 whole process is incontestible. It is not confined to 

 any particular time, since the animal can delay it 

 according to circumstances, even when the paunch is 

 quite full. It has been expressly stated of some men, 

 who have had the power of ruminating, that it was 

 quite voluntary with them. Blumenbach knew four 

 men who ruminated their food, and they assured him 

 they had a real enjoyment in doing it : two of them 

 had the power of doing or abstaining from it at their 

 pleasure. 



A case of human rumination occurred some years 

 ago at Bristol, the particulars of which are minutely 

 recorded in the ' Philosophical Transactions.' It seemed, 

 in this instance, to have been hereditary, as the father 

 of the individual was subject to the same habit. The 

 young man usually began to chew his food over again, 

 within a quarter of an hour after eating. His rumi- 

 nating after a full meal generally lasted about an 

 hour and a half; nor could he sleep until this task 

 was completed. The victuals, upon its return, tasted 

 even more pleasantly than at first ; and seemed as if 

 it had been beaten up in a mortar. If he ate a 

 variety of things, that which he ate first, came up again 

 first ; and if this return was interrupted for any length 

 of time, it produced sickness and disorder ; nor was he 

 ever well till it returned. These singular cases are 

 caused, no doubt, by some abnormal structure of the 



