326 PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. [aNNO 1787, 



tention of the food till swallowed ; and do suppose the fish they catch are small, 

 when compared with the size of the mouth. 



The oesophagus, as in other animals, begins at the fauces, or posterior part 

 of the mouth ; and, though circular at this part, is soon divided into 1 passages 

 by the epiglottis passing across it, as will be described hereafter. Below its at- 

 tachment to the trachea, it passes down in the posterior mediastinum, at some 

 distance from the spine, to which it is attached by a broad part of the same 

 membrarfe, and its anterior surface makes the posterior part of a cavity behind 

 the pericardium. Passing through the diaphragm it enters the stomach, and is 

 lined with a very thick, soft, and white cuticle, which is continued into the first 

 cavity of the stomach. The inner, or true coat, is white, of a considerable 

 density, and not muscular ; but thrown into large longitudinal folds by the con- 

 traction of the muscular fibres of the oesophagus, which are very strong. It is 

 very glandular ; for on its inner surface, especially near the fauces, orifices of a 

 vast number of glands are visible. The oesophagus is larger in proportion to 

 the bulk of the animal than in the quadruped, though not so much so as it 

 usually is in fish, which we may suppose swallow their food much in the same 

 way. In the piked whale it was 3-i- inches wide. 



The stomach, as in other animals, lies on the left side of the body, and ter- 

 minates in the pylorus towards the right. The duodenum passes down on the 

 right side, very much as in the human subject, excepting that it is more exposed 

 from the colon not crossing it. It lies on the right kidney, and then passes to 

 the left side behind the ascending part of the colon and root of the mesentery, 

 comes out on the left side, and getting on the edge of the mesentery becomes a 

 loose intestine, forming the jejunum. In this course behind the mesentery it is 

 exposed, as in most quadrupeds, not being covered by it, as in the human. 

 The jejunum and ilium pass along the edge of the mesentery downwards to the 

 lower part of the abdomen. The ilium near the lower end makes a turn to- 

 wards the right side, and then mounting upwards, round the edge of the me- 

 sentery, passes a little way on the right, as high as the kidney, and there enters 

 the colon, or caecum. The caecum lies on the lower end of the kidney, con- 

 siderably higher than in the human body, which renders the ascending part of 

 the colon short. The caecum is about 7 inches long, and more like that of the 

 lion or seal than of any other animal I know. 



The colon passes obliquely up the right side, a little towards the middle of the 

 abdomen ; and when as high as the stomach, crosses to the left, and acquires a 

 broad mesocolon : at this part it lies on the left kidney, and in its passage down 

 gets more and more to the middle line of the body. When it has reached the 

 lower part of the abdomen, it passes behind the uterus, and along with the 

 vagina in the female ; between the 2 testicles, and behind the bladder and root 



