200 THE VITAL FUNCTIONS. 



them. The quantity of water thrown out, is in 

 proportion to the distance of the part attacked, 

 and is commonly half a pint at a time: and 

 this, Mr. Pierard, who resided many years in 

 India, has known the elephant repeat, eight or 

 ten times within the hour. This water is not 

 only ejected immediately after drinking, but 

 six or eight hours afterwards. The quantity of 

 water at the animal's command for this pur- 

 pose, observes Sir E. Home, cannot be less 

 than six quarts ; and on examining the struc- 

 ture of the stomach of that animal, he found 

 in it a cavity, like that of the camel, per- 

 fectly well adapted to afford this occasional 

 supply of water, which may probably, at other 

 times, be employed in moistening dry food for 

 the purposes of digestion.* 



In every series of animals belonging to other 

 classes, a correspondence may be traced, as has 

 been done in the Mammalia, between the nature 

 of the food and the conformation of the diges- 

 tive organs. The stomachs of birds, reptiles 

 and fishes, are, with certain modifications, 

 formed very much upon the models of those 

 already described ; according as the food con- 

 sists of animal or of vegetable materials, or 

 presents more or less resistance from the co- 

 hesion of its texture. As it would be impos- 



» Supplement to Sir E. Home's Lectures on Comparative 

 Anatomy, vol. vi. p. 9. 



