EXPERIMENTS ON DIGESTION. 
521 
sum of a sheep that had the hoove, but it existed in a very large 
quantity. * 
5. Acetate of Ammonia. — This was found in the calves and 
oxen, and the three sheep. The hydrochlorate of ammonia may 
also exist in a considerable quantity in the fluids contained in 
the abomasum ; for the carbonate of ammonia which we find in the 
first stomach would be decomposed in the fourth by the hydrochloric 
and acetic acids that are secreted there. 
6. Albumine. — This was very abundant in the filtrated fluids of 
the abomasum of some calves and oxen, supposing always that 
this was not the caseous matter found in the first of these animals. 
In the sheep with hoove there was a moderate quantity. Those 
that had been fed on oats and grass yielded but a small quantity, 
and in the one that was fed on straw there was not the smallest 
quantity. This matter seemed to have been extracted from the soft- 
ened food. That which was met with in the sheep that died after the 
extraction of the pancreatic juice was a morbid secretion. 
7. Matter turned red by Hydrochloric Acid. — This was obtained 
from distillation of the fluid from the abomasum of cattle, and 
also of the sheep that died after the operation. 
8. Matter precipitable by the Chloruret of Tin : of this we found 
a great quantity in the abomasum of all the sheep. 
9. Incineration of the infiltrated fluids will produce the following 
salts : 
Alkaline Alkaline Alkaline Alkaline Carbonate Phosphate 
Caibonate. Phosphate. Sulphate. Chloruret. of Lime. of Lime. 
Beef. 3 5 1 3 3 1 
Veal 2 3 0 4 15 
Sheep fed on grass.. 0 115 14 
do straw. 0 3 2 4 2 3 
do oats.... 2 5 15 14 
As the abomasum contains certain free acids resembling those 
which we have found in the stomach of the dog, the cat, and the 
horse, we have a right to conclude that the aliment is digested there, 
or dissolved and converted into chyme. The three first stomachs 
only prepare it for the digestion which takes place in the fourth. 
This agrees with numerous experiments recorded by Reaumur in 
the Memoirs of the Academy of Science, and repeated and confirmed 
by Spallanzani. 
The digestion of the Food, whether in animals possessed of a 
simple stomach, or in this fourth stomach of the ruminant, consists 
in their solution by means of the gastric juice. Whatever be the 
aliment, simple or composed of different constituents, it is dissolved. 
All physiologists unite here ; but they have not agreed upon — they 
have not discovered the cause of — this solvent property, nor the aid 
