60 
THE STOMACH. 
fowl’s stomach, in which were found three pieces of 
flint, three metal buttons, fourteen nails, several of 
which were very sharp, in addition to a great num- 
ber of small stones*. The coat of the bird’s 
stomach, with the exception of some slight scratches 
on the inner membrane, was in its natural state ; 
probably, however, if the gizzard had been closely 
examined, it would have been found diseased or 
defective in its operations, thus inducing the fowl to 
make up its deficiency by so unnatural an addition. 
But the best way of understanding its curious 
mode of working, will be, to follow the progress of a 
meal swallowed by a fowl, between whose stomach 
and that of a corn-mill, naturalists have traced a 
very close resemblance. The grain is first passed 
by the gullet into the craw, which may be compared 
to the hopper of the mill, through which the grain 
is gradually emptied on the grinding-stones. There, 
as we have seen, it remains a certain time, till it is 
considerably softened; and then, not all at once, but 
in very small quantities, in proportion to the pro- 
gress of trituration, just as the hopper allows the 
grain to dribble into the central hole in the upper 
mill-stone, does it pass onwards to the gizzard, where 
it is thoroughly bruised and reduced. Many experi- 
ments have been made to ascertain the precise 
manner in which the gizzard acts ; but we are still 
much in the dark respecting it. We may learn, 
however, a good deal, by examining a very lean 
young fowl, when, on removing the feathers from 
the side of the belly nearest the gizzard, its motion 
can be both felt, seen, and heard. On pressing with 
* Edinburgh Philosophical Journal, No. III., p. 206 . 
