120 FACULTIES OF BIRDS. 



holes, and bound it tight round outside of the tubes ; 

 when the two ends met, they were twisted together ; 

 consequently, though the soldering should be de- 

 stroyed, yet this contrivance would prevent the circular 

 plates from receding from the ends of the tube, 

 unless the wire passing through them should be 

 broken. I prepared four tubes in this manner, and 

 gave them to a turkey six months old. After they 

 had remained a whole day in the stomach, I killed 

 the animal ; and my astonishment was extreme at 

 finding that the tubes, in spite of my expedient, were 

 very much damaged. All the iron wires were broken, 

 two where they were twisted, and the two others 

 at their entrance into the tubes : the plates, so far 

 from remaining soldered to the tubes, were found 

 amongst the food ; they were not flat as at first, but 

 some were bent so as to form an angle, some curved, 

 and in others one part was pressed close to the other. 

 The tubes had sustained equal injury ; two of them 

 were flattened as if they had been struck by a ham- 

 mer, the third was moulded into the shape of a 

 gutter, the soldering of the fourth was destroyed, 

 and it was expanded like a wafer. 



" These phenomena will less surprise those who 

 have learned from Redi * and Magalottit how 

 ducks, fowls, and pigeons pulverize hollow globules 

 of glass in a very short space, and even solid ones in 

 a few weeks. I have already observed, that I re- 

 peated these experiments with the greatest success. 

 Some spherules of glass blown by the lamp, and 

 so thick that they would seldom break when thrown 

 on the ground, were generally reduced to small frag- 

 ments, after remaining three hours in the stomachs 

 of hens or capons ; the fragments were not sharp as 

 when they are broken by the efforts of the hand, but 



* Esperienze intorno a Cose naturali. 

 f Saggio di naturali Esperienzi. 



