DIGESTION. 177 



have travelled in Egypt, that camels, when accus- 

 tomed to go journeys, during which they are for a 

 long time deprived of water, acquire the power of 

 dilating the cells, so as to make them contain a 

 more than ordinary quantity, as a supply for their 

 journey.* 



When the Elephant, while travelling in very hot 

 weather, is tormented by insects, it has been ob- 

 served to throw out from its proboscis, directly upon 

 the part on which the flies fix themselves, a quan- 

 tity of water, with such force as to dislodge them. 

 The quantity of water thrown out, is in proportion 

 to the distance of the part attacked, and is com- 

 monly 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 

 purpose, observes Sir E. Home, cannot be less than 

 six quarts ; and on examining the structure of the 

 stomach of that animal, he found in it a cavity, like 

 that of the camel, perfectly well adapted to afford 

 this occasional supply of water, which may pro- 

 bably, 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 digestive 

 organs. The stomachs of birds, reptiles and fishes, 



* Home, Lectures on Comparative Anatomy, vol. i. p. 171, 

 t Supplement to Sir E, Home's Lectures on Comparative Ana- 

 tomy, vol. vi. p. 9. 



VOL. II. N 



