540 Kidd V. Royal Agricultural Society of England. 
Q. What are the functions of those nerves ? — A. As their name implies, they 
supply the lungs and the stomachs — the nervous function is carried to th'e 
lungs and stomach and heart by those nerves from the brain. 
Q. Those you call the pneumo-gastric ? — A. Yes. 
Q. Now, will you go on and tell me in your own way about the deleterious 
influence upon the nerves and the consequence of that ? — A. The function of 
the rumen is to receive all the food that is partaken of by the animal, to con- 
tain that food for an indefinite length of time, to have the food, while it is 
contained in the rumen, exposed to the secretion which comes from the viscus 
and thereby soften the ingesta. The secretion of the rumen being allied to the 
secretion of saliva, it has a chemical action on the starchy parts of the food, 
converting them into gum and partly perhaps into sugar. A further function 
of the rumen is to expel, governed by the will of the animal, a pellet of food 
from time to time from the viscus into the mouth. 
Mr. Justice Blackbcjen : AVhat we commonly call chewing the cud? — 
.4. les. 
Q. That operation goes on in the mouth when the cud is there ? — A. The 
cud is re-masticated — re-insalivated and then swallowed again and passed again 
into the rumen, where it is subjected to the after process. 
Q. The same process? — A. The same pi'ocess of exposure to the secretion; 
besides that, which is a special function of the rumen, the ordinary peristaltic 
action which belongs to the rumen — the motion by which its contents are, 
when fitted for digestion, moved on to the other stomach. Anj'thing which 
interferes with the ordinary peristaltic action would likewise interfere with the 
special function of the rumen in the act of rumination. 
Q. And if sufficient in effect would stop the process ? — A. Stop the process 
of ordinary peristaltic action ; and the result would be that whatever material 
was contained within the rumen would go into a state of fermentation. 
Q. What would that produce.? — A. That would produce in technical 
language tympanitis, in ordinary language the animals -would be hoven or 
blown. 
Q. Is that from the gas? — A. The gas arising from and mingled with the 
ingesta, both are in the rumen. 
Q. And then what would be the effect of that upon the blood.? — A. The 
immediate effect would be this, that the rumen occupying more space would 
press upon the diaphragm. In turn the lungs would be pressed upon ; because 
the function of the diaphragm being to expand the chest, the chest can no 
longer be expanded, and air cannot be received in due quantity into the lungs 
in the ordinary act of insjiiration. Inspiration and expiration being interfered 
with in this manner — 
Mr. Justice Blackburn : Then would follow the ordinary consequence of 
suffocation .? — A. It may or may not, my Lord, that would depend entirely 
upon the amount of pressure ; but presuming that there is little, or not suf- 
ficient, pressure to produce asphyxia there would be pressure enough to prevent 
the blood being j^roperly decarbonized. 
Mr. Field: And that would be blood poisoning.? — A. Them the carbonic 
acid gas not being thrown out from the lungs, but retained in the blood, would 
change the properties of the blood, render it unfit for life, and kill the animal. 
Q. Would that fermentation act upon the nerves ? — A. The fermentation 
inside the stomach not in itself perhaps would act materially upon the nerves, 
but something which gave rise to the fermentation would paralyse them as it 
were, so that you would get paralysis of the nerves and consequently distension 
of the rumen from the fermentative action which would be now set up, the vital 
function being destroyed in short. 
Q. Have you anything more to say. Professor, in reference fo the examination 
of what you found from your examination of the animals? — A. No: the 
