296 DIGESTION. 



made it the subject of an inaugural thesis ; and another is 

 the case of the brother of M. P. Berard. 1 In these instances, 

 as far as could be ascertained from the sensations during the 

 act, the regurgitation of food was effected by persistent con- 

 tractions of the muscular walls of the stomach, assisted by a 

 slight and almost involuntary contraction of the abdominal 

 muscles and diaphragm. It is stated by Cambay that in his 

 case, the taste of the articles of food was not modified, " but 

 that it is with something of a sense of pleasure that the ru- 

 minator thus causes to return to the mouth the aliments that 

 he has taken into the stomach, which makes them undergo 

 a new trituration." " 



Rumination in the human subject is not a physiological 

 act. It is evident that the substances returned to the 

 mouth are not impregnated with the gastric juice, for they 

 have not the disagreeable acid taste of ordinary vomited 

 matters. The acts are generally preceded by a sense of ful- 

 ness in the stomach, and their mechanism is probably nearly 

 the same as that of the regurgitation of small quantities of 

 milk from the distended stomachs of young children, which 

 is so common. In the person of Cambay, the first act was 

 said to be voluntary, but succeeding ones were not under the 

 control of the will. Undoubtedly the faculty of regurgita- 

 ting the food may be improved by practice, and we have 

 known of an instance in which it was apparently cultivated 

 as an accomplishment. 



The mechanism of regurgitation of portions of the con- 

 tents of the stomach, aside from instances simulating rumi- 

 nation, has been so often alluded to that it demands in this 

 connection but a passing mention. In some persons, this act 

 may be accomplished by a voluntary muscular effort, espe- 

 cially when the stomach is overloaded. It occasionally hap- 

 pens, when the stomach is somewhat distended, that a small 



1 BERARD, Cours de Physiologic, Paris, 1849, tome ii., p. 274. 



2 CAMBAY, TJiese sur le Merycisme et la JDigestibilite des Alimens. Theses de 

 Creole de Medccine, Paris, 1830, tome vii., No. 213, p. 10. 



