OF NATURAL HISTORY. -231 



fhecp, the ox, the horfe, the owl, the falcon, the eagle, the 

 cat, the dog, man, &c. 



With regard to birds which are furniflied with mufcular 

 ftomachs, or gizzards, Spalanzani, in imitation of Reaumur, 

 procured fmall glafs and metal balls and tubes, perforated 

 with many holes. Thefe he filled with different kinds of 

 food, and forced them down the throats of common fowls, 

 turkeys, &c. He filled balls with barley, or other grains, 

 in their entire flate, and allowed them to remain in the ftom- 

 achs of ducks, turkeys, and other fowls, for twenty-four, and, 

 in fome cafes, for forty-eight hours. He then killed the 

 animals, took the balls out of their ftomachs, and after exam- 

 ining the grains attentively, he could not difcover that the 

 gaftric juice, to the action of which they wery fully expofed 

 by the numerous holes in the balls, had made the fmallefl 

 impreHion upon them. They fuffered no diminution of 

 fize, and exhibited no marks of dilTolution. Thefe experi- 

 ments he often repeated upon a number of fowls provided 

 with mufcular Itomachs, and the event was uniformly the 

 fame : In no inftance did the gaftric juice produce any fol- 

 vent effect upon the grain contained in the balls. After 

 thefe unfuccefsful attempts, he fufpedled, that, though the 

 gaftric juice was unable to diffolve grains in their entire 

 ftate, it might act as a menftruum upon them when fuflici- 

 ently m.afticated or brulfed. To afcertain this point, he af- 

 terwards filled his balls v/ith bruifed grains, and introduced 

 them into the ftomachs of different fowls, as cocks, ducks, 

 turkeys, wood-pigeons, &c. In all the numerous trials he 

 made with bruifed grain, he invariably found, that the grain 

 was more or lefs diffolved in proportion to the time the bails 

 were allowed to remain in the ftomach. 



Reaumur and Spalanzani, in the courfe of their experi- 

 ments upon the digeftion of birds with mufcular ftomachs, 

 difcovered a wonderful communicating force which thefe 

 llomachs poffefs. When tin tubes full of grain were thrown 



