RUMINiOITIA.- 



-JIMIMAXIA.- 



-EUMINASTIA. 



167 



carried down the gullet, where, on arrhTiig at tlie 

 lower part, tlie lips of the muscular channel, placed at 

 the entrance of the first tliree stomachs, separate so as 

 to insure its passage into tlie paunch. In hke manner, 

 suhscquent to tlie act of drinking, the margins of die 

 oesophageal groove open, and the water is conveyed into 

 the cells of tlie reticulum. In the camels a part of the 

 fluid passes into the first cavity, there to be retained 

 by tlie great water-cells, as a special provision agauist 

 those contingencies which their mode of existence 

 uivolves. AVliile the coarse vegetable food is being 

 macerated by tlie moisture secreted from tlie walls of 

 the paunch — and probably also fi'om the water taken 

 in by the mouth, some of wliich may have entered the 

 cavity — portions of the indigestible mass are transmitted 

 into the second stomach for further maceration, and 

 from thence into die grooved canal above described, 

 to be here moulded into the form of pellets, and 

 returned to tlie moutli by a kind of reversed peristaltic 

 action. The softened bolus tlius brought back mto 

 tlie mouth, is destined to receive a tliorough and com- 

 plete reinastication, constituting that part of the process 

 familiarly termed " chewing the cud." This phenomenon 

 is accompanied with an action of tlie jaws which differs 

 somewhat in particular species. Thus, it has been 

 shown by Professor Owen that in the camels the bolus 

 is triturated alternately from side to side ; whereas the 

 action of the teeth m the horned nimmants, includuig 

 tlie giraffe, is always in one du'ection — it may be fi'om 

 riglit to left or left to right — occasioned by the rotatory 

 motion of the jaw. The necessary reduction of the 

 ahment ha\Tng been accomplished, it is again trans- 

 ferred to the stomach in a pidpy semifluid condition ; 

 but tills time, instead of enteiing the first or second 

 cavities, it passes dhectly along the now-closed oeso- 

 phageal groove uito the tliird stomach, or manj'plies. 

 In this viscus tlie superfluous moisture is supposed to 

 be absorbed before the bolus is idtimately transmitted 

 into the fourth stomach, in which organ the true diges- 

 tive act remains to be fulfilled. In the newly-born 

 rimiiiiant, the first, second, and third stomachs are 

 very incompletely developed; and no chewing of the 

 cud being necessary, the food passes miinterruptedly 

 into the fourth. In the calf a peculiar organic acid is 

 secreted by the lining membrane of the true stomach, 

 which, it is well known, possesses the smgular power 

 of convortuig the albumen of milk into curd and whey. 

 In the young, as weU as in the adult animal, various 

 foreign substances are occasionally found in the pamich, 

 and sometimes in tlie reticulum. The concretionary 

 masses are either made up of hair, vegetable fibres, 

 or calcareous particles, generally agglomerated to- 

 gether in a rounded or oval form. The hairy baUs 

 fomid in the calf and cow result from the licking of 

 their own hides, or thoro of others ; and the individual 

 hairs, on being transferred into the stomach, are col- 

 lected together, and rolled by the action of this organ 

 into the characteristic shapes above mentioned. In 

 the camel we find them in the form of pedunculated 

 pellets, strung together m grape-like bunches. In tlio 

 chamois, the formation of the so-called bezoar stones, 

 takes places m consequence of a partiaUty for salme 

 natters, which the animal gratifies by licking fragments 



of rock containing saltpetre. Thus a variety of earthy 

 and silicious particles are at the same time swallowed, 

 and by tlie secretions and peristaltic action of the 

 stomach, are agglutuiated together, and converted into 

 curious pebble-like formations. 



Before learaig this part of the subject, we deem it 

 right to notice oirr discovery of tw'O very remarkable 

 peculiarities occurring in the alimentary canal of tiie 

 aberrant genus Camelopardalis. The first of these con- 

 sists in tiie presence of pouch-like folds in connection 

 with the compound glands of the mtestine ; whilst the 

 second is a similar, but far more striking development 

 of the glands, situated close to the opening by which 

 the small intesthie communicates with the large colon 

 and ccecum. This structure we believe to be altogetiier 

 unique tiiroiighout tiie entire mammalian series; and 

 although we fii-st directed attention to it at the Glasgow 



Fig. 55. 





Remailiable compound ^rmd situatt'il at th'' junction of the large 

 and small intestines of the Giraffe. 



meetmg of the British Association in 1855, and have 

 subsequently given details in the tiiird volume of the 

 new series of the Edinburgh Philosophical Journal, 

 and in the article " Rnminantia," published in Dr. 

 Todd's " Cyclopedia of Anatomy and Physiology," wo 

 make no apology for agam specially inviting the atten- 



