488 SECTION OF THE EIGHTH PAIIl OF NERVES, &C. 
5th . — She is much better to-day — takes her food better — rumi- 
nates freely — the coat is smoother — the skin looser — the pulse 
natural — the secretion of milk increased — she looks more lively, 
faeces more natural. Give her an hour’s exercise in the field; mix a 
little bean meal and crushed oats with her bran, and at night 
repeat the second dose. 
6th . — Much better in every respect. Continue the same course 
as on yesterday, except omitting the medicine. 
8th . — Quite recovered. 
SECTION OF THE EIGHTH PAIR OF NERVES. 
M. Bernard has instituted some new experiments upon this 
interesting physiological question. Having previously established 
a fistulous opening into the stomach in the subjects of his experi- 
ments, he could observe with great advantage all that happened on 
the division of these nerves. 
His conclusions are, — first, that division of the pneumogastric 
nerves is followed by the extinction of all sensation and motion in 
the stomach, and, more than this, by a complete arrest of the secre- 
tion of gastric juice ; secondly, by an entire suspension of the di- 
gestive function. Pieces of meat put into the stomachs of dogs 
whose pneumogastrics have been divided were found twenty-four 
hours afterwards totally unchanged ; thirdly, in the absence of the 
gastric juice, spontaneous changes take place in the food in the 
stomach. 
Comptes Rendus , Academie des Sciences , 21th Mai . 
A FLOCK OF SHEEP POISONED BY EATING THE 
RANUNCULUS REPENS. 
A FLOCK of sheep had not been many hours in a field into which 
they had not been before driven ere the shepherd observed that 
several of them suddenly fell down as if they had been struck by 
lightning. Their eyes rolled about in their sockets — their breathing 
was laborious, and some of them kept turning round and round as if 
they were dizzy, and died with their heads inclined over their left 
flanks. He fancied that the seizure was owing to a “ coup de 
sang,” and accordingly bled the animals. The loss of blood, how- 
ever, seemed to do harm rather than good, for eleven of them 
very speedily died. 
