PROFESSOR SPOONER’S ORATION. 
739 
gether distinct from the function of that part of the stomach 
which is clothed with what we designate the villous coat, and on 
which we believe the gastric juice to be secreted. It has been said 
by some, that this arrangement is for the purpose of conferring 
on the animal the power of triturating his food within his sto- 
mach prior to its coming in contact with that surface where it is 
exposed to the gastric juice. Others have maintained, that its 
design is to retain the food until it has undergone maceration. I 
shall not detain you by offering any particular views on this sub- 
ject, farther than a few remarks, comparing the internal structure 
of the stomach of the horse with that of other animals, and there- 
by shewing the untenableness of the position, that this structure 
is for the purpose of trituration. 
I have already exhibited to you the immense power of the molar 
teeth ; evidently and distinctly proving that the horse must mas- 
ticate his food, and subject it to a great deal of attrition in the 
mouth. 
Let us take a view of the internal structure of the stomach 
of the ox. In it there is also a continuation of the euticular or 
insensible tissue, — in fact, the stomach of this and other ruminat- 
ing animals is divided into four portions — that which is intended 
as the grand receptacle for the food, called the first stomach, or 
rumen ; secondly, that which is placed at the bottom of the oeso- 
phagus, and named the rectieulum ; and, thirdly, the small pouch- 
like portion placed to the right, called the maniplus : all these com- 
partments are lined with the same insensible membrane, differing 
however, in the structure of its surface in different parts of them. 
Let us compare the inner surface of the stomach of the ox 
with that of the horse, and we shall at once perceive that there 
is a far more perfect arrangement for the process of trituration in 
the former than in the latter ; yet, at the same time, in this ani- 
mal, after the act of deglutition, the food remains for a time in 
the first stomach, where it undergoes a degree of maceration : still, 
however, it is necessary, in order that it should be prepared for the 
fourth division of the organ, where the gastric juice is secreted, 
that it should be returned to the mouth, and subjected to the pro- 
cess of remastication. It must appear, -therefore, I think clearly, 
from comparative reasoning, that the euticular coat of the stomach 
can perform no process of trituration. 
Allow me to direct your attention to the gizzard of a fowl. 
It has been stated that the euticular lining membrane of the 
stomach of the horse is analogous to the internal surface of the 
gizzard of a fowl. I admit that it is so ; but I contend that there 
is no analogy between the gizzard of a fowl and that division of 
the stomach of the horse over which this membrane is reflected. 
