PUERPERAL FEVER IN CATTLE. 
374 
We have instances on record of ruminating men, particularly 
of one at Bristol, of whom Dr. Slare gives the following account, 
in Philosophical Transactions, No. 193: “ He would begin to 
chew his meat over again, within a quarter of an hour after his 
meals, if he drank upon them ; but if not, it was somewhat 
longer* * * § . His chewing after a full meal lasted an hour and a half. 
The victuals upon their return into the mouth tasted somewhat 
more pleasant than at first f ; and liquids, as broths and spoon 
meats, returned the same as dry and solid food ; and he always 
observed, that if he ate a variety of things, that which he swal- 
lowed first would come up again first to be chewedj. Also, if 
this faculty intermitted at any time, it produced sickness; and he 
was never well until it returned again§.” 
Comparative anatomists say that the ruminant animals are all 
hairy quadrupeds, viviparous, and have four stomachs ; they also 
want the incisor teeth in the fore part of the upper jaw : there 
is an exception to the general rule in this extraordinary man. 
Will any of your learned correspondents inform me if there is any 
report of his death, and the appearance or structure of the 
stomach after death ? 
I am not aware that there is any recorded account of the 
structure of the stomach of a human ruminant; and, indeed, 
there is no apparent necessity for it. The alteration, if any, 
would be found in the greater development, as connected with 
the greater power, of the tenth or cerebro-visceral motor nerve ; 
for, on the supposition of a somewhat different, and perhaps more 
energetic discharge of the functions of that nerve, all the phe- 
nomena of rumination may be readily explained. 
* If we may judge from analogy, hence the propriety of drenching cattle 
with gruel, &e. when the cud is lost. — J. A. 
f Physiologists are generally agreed, that during the time of digestion, 
both the cardiac and pyloric orifices of the stomach are closed. If a mouth- 
ful of wine or food is returned from the stomach some minutes after it has 
been received, the odour, taste, and all the qualities, both physical and che- 
mical, of these substances are so altered, that we can with difficulty distin- 
guish them; and vinous liquors, more or less acid, are no longer susceptible 
of spirituous fermentation. — J. A. 
| Dr. Albert Haller quotes many authorities to prove, that the food does 
not pass from the stomach successively in the same manner as it was re- 
ceived, but agreeably to its greater or less degree of digestion. — J. A. 
§ Might this not, among many other reasons, be ascribed to a deficiency 
of saliva or gastric juice : the secretions do not appear to have been morbid, 
or gastrodvnia would have been present. — J. A. 
