122 FACULTIES OP BIRDS. 



the points of the twelve needles were broken off close 

 to the surface of the ball, except two or three of which 

 the stumps projected a little higher. Two of the 

 points of the needles were found among the food ; 

 the other ten I could not discover, either in the sto- 

 mach or the long' track of the intestines; and there- 

 fore concluded that they had passed out*." 



In another experiment, which without knowing 

 the previous facts we might justly have deemed still 

 more cruel, Spallanzani tells us he fixed " twelve 

 small lancets, very sharp both at the point and edges, 

 in a similar ball of lead. They were such as I use 

 for the dissection of small animals. The ball was 

 given to a turkey-cock, and left eighteen hours in the 

 stomach ; at the expiration of which time that organ 

 was opened, but nothing appeared except the naked 

 ball, the twelve lancets having been broken to pieces: 

 I discovered three in the large intestines, pointless 

 and mixed with the other contents ; the other nine 

 were missing and had probably been voided. The 

 stomach was as sound and entire as that which had 

 received the needles. 



" Two capons, of which one was subjected to the 

 experiment with the needles, and the other with the 

 lancets, sustained them equally well. My next wish 

 was to know how much time elapsed before the be- 

 ginning of the fractures; and by repeated experiments 

 on turkeys, I found that these sharp bodies begin to 

 be broken and lose their shape in two hours. This 

 at least happened in two individuals of the species : 

 in one four of the lancets, and in the other three of 

 the needles were broken within that space ; the others 

 were blunted, but continued fixed in the balls f." 



An acquaintance with these singular experiments 

 is calculated in part to diminish our surprise at 

 finding stones in the gizzards of fowls, a fact which, 

 * Dissertations, i. 18. t Ibid, i. 19. 



