Medicine. 2S9 



structure and functions, into three classes, the 

 muscular, intermediate and membranous/ 



Among such as have muscular stomachs, he par- 

 ticularly examined common fowls, turkeys, ducks, 

 geese, pigeons, &c. In these that organ is pro- 

 vided with very large and powerful muscles, capa- 

 ble of grinding down to powder the grains and 

 other aliment which they receive. He proved by 

 his experiments, that such muscular stomachs can 

 pulverize pieces of glass, and abrade and smooth the 

 rugged edges of the hardest substances, even of 

 granite, without any injury to the animal. He 

 resorted to experiments to illustrate the force of tri- 

 turation in the?e stomachs, which a person of less 

 ardour in this kind of investigation, and more ten- 

 derness for the animal creation, would certainly 

 have spared. He caused a leaden ball, beset with 

 needles fixed in it, with the points outwards, to 

 be forced down the throat of a turkey. He con- 

 trived to make another swallow a ball of a still 

 more formidable construction; for it was armed 

 with small lancets, sharp at the points and edges, 

 instead of needles: both balls were covered with 

 paper, to prevent the throat of the animal from 

 being hurt as they descended, but fixed so loosely 

 as to fall oflT in the stomach. The consequences 

 proved the force and ruggedness of these muscular 

 stomachs; the needles and lancets were broken to 

 pieces and voided without wounding or injuring 

 the animal. 



But notwithstanding such proofs of the strength 

 and activity of this kind of stomach, he ascer- 

 tained that the solvent powers of a gastric liquor 

 are combined even in these animals with the ope- 

 ration of gastric muscles, to effect the process of 

 digestion, and that they mutually assist each other. 



c Dissertations relative to the Natural History of Animals and Fegetahlr, 



