EXPERIMEMTS ON KUMINATION. 153 



paunch, the liquid, when the animal drinks, issues copiously 

 from the paunch ; if there be an artificial opening in the 

 honeycomb, or in the inanyplies, or in the red, the liquid, 

 when the animal drinks, issues copiously by the aperture what- 

 ever be the stomach in which it exists. Hence the proper con- 

 clusion seems to be that, in drinking, the water passes into all 

 the stomachs. 



It is manifest from what has been already stated that the 

 two first stomachs must be the only stomachs concerned in the 

 regurgitation of the macerated aliment for rumination ; the 

 only question that remains is whether these act merely by their 

 own contractile force or derive aid from without. 



When the stomachs are laid bare in a living sheep, their 

 contractile power, under irritation, is found to be very slight ; 

 but when, on the other hand, a finger is introduced through an 

 artificial aperture leading into any one of the four stomachs, 

 the contraction is felt to be very forcible, particularly in the 

 paunch and the honeycomb, during the regurgitation of the 

 aliment for rumination. As to the effect of the parietes of the 

 abdominal cavity in aiding the regurgitation of the aliment for 

 rumination, Flourens draws the following conclusions from his 

 experiments: 1. The section of the diaphragmatic nerves, in 

 the living animal, enfeebles rumination. 2. The section of the 

 spinal marrow, which destroys the contraction of the abdominal 

 muscles, destroys rumination. 3. The section of the nerves of 

 the eighth pair of cerebral nerves not only prevents the animal 

 from ruminating, but even prevents it from eating and drink- 

 ing. These effects are such as might have been anticipated 

 from the known influence of the abdominal muscles and dia- 

 phragm in the rejection of the contents of the stomach in 

 animals in general, as well as from the established facts regard- 

 ing the uses of that pair of nerves in digestion. 



It is to be remarked, however, that the regurgitation of the 



