THE DISEASES OF CATTLE. 91 



ON THE SENSIBLE PHENOMENA OF -RUMINATION. 



This subject is one of great importance to persons desirous 

 of practising veterinary medicine ; and husbapdmen, no doubt, 

 will be glad to become better acquainted with' .matters that 

 have hitherto, in this country, been shrouded v in comparative 

 darkness. In view of furnishing rehable information on this 

 subject, the author has selected a communication by M. Colin, 

 translated by Mr. Percivall. > 



" The following comprises the substance of the report of a 

 paper on this subject, read before the National and Central 

 Society of Veterinary Medicine of France : — 



" Under the heading of ' Sensible Phenomena of Rumin- 

 ation,' M. Colin includes * all the external and appreciable acts 

 of this function, every thing, in fact, one can make out of acts 

 in a great measure concealed, having for their object the return 

 of the aliment from the stomach into the mouth, and its remod- 

 ification within the latter cavity. ' 



" These acts are — 



" 1st, The return or rejection of the alimentary cud. 



" 2d, The mastication of the cud, wherein are to be ob- 

 served, the direction of the motions of the lower jaw, the 

 rapidity or tardiness of their succession, their number and 

 regularity. 



"3d, The deglutition of the ruminated cud. 



" The return of the aliment into the mouth, M. Colin re- 

 gards as a sort of inverse or anti-peristaltic or deglutition, called 

 by M. Flourens, rejecton. In it are two distinct acts : — 



" 1st, The operation by which the cud is formed, seized, and 

 held by the cardiac orifice of the oesophagus. 



"2d, The transmission of the cud from the stomach into 

 the buccal cavity. 



" The first of these acts it is that is involved in the greatest 

 obscurity, owing to its being the least accessible of any of the 

 phenomena of rumination : the last act is simple, sensible, and 

 appreciable enough. 



" At every return of the aliment from the rumen to the 



