THE DISEASES OF CATTLE. 93 



and, owing to the course of the oesophagus, it is more conspic- 

 uous on the left than on the right side of the neck, though it 

 may likewise be seen on the latter : in the dromedary it is even 

 more visible in the lower part of the neck, along the median 

 line. 



"Many authors have asserted that there takes place an 

 elongation of the neck ; that it becomes stretched out, and the 

 head protruded forward, at the time the aliment is passing out 

 of the rumen into the oesophagus. These conditions, however, 

 are by no means constant, nor are they essential, since, if the 

 neck be flexed either to the left or to the right at the time of 

 rumination, the phenomena continues uninterruptedly, the ali- 

 ments uniformly ascending and descending. This M. Colin 

 has not noticed. 



" But he was desirous of determining the quantity of ali- 

 mentary matter collected in the mouth ; with which intention 

 he forcibly applied his hands upon each side of the jugular 

 furrow in the neck, so as sharply to compress the oesophagus, 

 while, at the same time, he had the mouth opened, and thus ob- 

 tained a soft mass weighing from three or four ounces. He like- 

 wise informs us, that the rejected cud was not always a globu- 

 lar mass consisting of solid matters exclusively ; for oftentimes, 

 cast up 7 h the solids, were parcels of herbacious matters, 

 along with a goodly proportion of fluid. From this M. Colin 

 makes an arithmetical calculation. He supposes the daily 

 ration to amount to from twenty-five to thirty pounds ; and this 

 to be dry provender, reckons the operations of rumination, the 

 time its reproduction will occupy, calling to mind M. Las- 

 saigne's experiments, to which his calculations bear but too 

 distant analogy, and arrives at the conclusions, that thirty 

 pounds of hay acquire within the stomach a weight equal to 

 nearly 150 pounds ; and that 500 parcels, of from three to four 

 ounces each, require, in order to be submitted to a second mas- 

 tication, seven hours thirteen minutes. 



" Now for this calculation, to which we have no inclination 

 to revert, to be correct, the liquid aliments should have been 

 taken into the account; and likewise allowance ouMit to be 



