RUMINATION. 61 



vegetable feeders are easily accustomed to animal food ; where- 

 as carnivorous animals, excepting the dog, can very seldom be 

 brought to feed on vegetables. 



" The arguments of those who, with Helvetius b , regard man as 

 carnivorous, are derived from the conformation of his stomach, 

 the shortness of his ca3cum, &c. 



" More careful observation, however, proves that man is not 

 destined for either kind of food alone, but for both. His teeth, 

 particularly the molares c , and the peculiar structure of his intes- 

 tines just alluded to, hold a middle rank between the same parts 

 in the ferae and in herbivorous animals." In carnivorous animals, 

 the incisors are very large; and the molares generally of an 

 irregular wedge form, those of the lower jaw closing in those of 

 the upper like scissors, and being adapted for lacerating. In the 

 herbivorous, the surface of the molares is horizontal or oblique, 

 adapted for grinding. As the food of herbivorous animals re- 

 quires more preparation before it becomes the substance of the 

 animal, their stomach is adapted to retain it for a length of time. 

 The oesophagus opens nearer the right extremity of the stomach, 

 and the pylorus nearer the left, so that a blind pouch is left 

 on either side. In the carnivorous, the reverse is the case, and 

 the stomach cylindrical, to favour the quick passage of the food* 

 For the same reason, the intestines in the latter, even among 

 insects, are generally shorter, and have fewer valvulse conniventes, 

 and in some instances no caecum. 



Blumenbach has seen four examples of this kind : in two the process was 

 compulsory, in two it was optional. These subjects also were males, and had a 

 real gratification in ruminating. Comparative Anatomy, translated by Messrs. 

 Lawrence and Coulson, 2d edit. p. 88. A case of human rumination, in a man, 

 has lately been seen at the London Hospital. London Medical Gazette, June 23, 

 1832. 



b " De VHomme, t. ii. p. 17." 



c " The opinion of Broussonet is singular. He thinks the human molares 

 closely resemble the teeth of herbivorous animals, and at the same time regards 

 the incisores and canini as allied to those of the carnivorous tribes : and, after 

 comparing the number of the molares with that of the other teeth, concludes that 

 the quantity of vegetable food intended for man is to the quantity of animal food 

 as 20 to 12. 



" But on this calculation it follows, that infants, who have four molares only 

 in each jaw, are destined to consume a larger portion of animal food than adults, 

 since the proportion of the molares to the other teeth is in them as 8 to 12." 



E 7 F 



