354 
MU. YOU AT F »S VETERINARY LECTURES. 
3S through the pylorus very imperfectly 
flow through it as soon as they are 
The Function of the Duodenum . — This, however, is fully 
counterbalanced by the increased size, and muscular and villous 
coats of the duodenum . In other animals, this portion of intestine 
has been considered as devoted entirely to chylification; but the 
previous process—the conversion of the food into chyme—has 
been very imperfectly performed in the stomach of the horse ; 
and therefore we want, in the upper part of the duodenum, a 
kind of second stomach,—a similar muscular apparatus to com¬ 
press and to mix up and dissolve the food. That apparatus is 
evident enough, and also the branches of this nerve, ramifying 
over the duodenum, and ceasing before we arrive at the pancre¬ 
atic and biliary orifices. Its mucous coat also is far more vas¬ 
cular than that of any of the other intestines. I might go 
further than this, and assert with Magendie, that the phenomena 
of digestion may be observed in the whole intestinal canal, and 
even in the great intestine of the horse; but this belongs to the 
digestive system, and will afford a beautiful illustration of the 
adaptation of the animal to the purposes for which he was 
destined. 
The Function of the Cerebro-Visceral Nerve as it regards the 
Stomach, —Then, observation of the course of this nerve, and the 
mechanism of digestion, unite with the result of experiment in 
determining its proper function. It is the motor nerve; it has 
to do with the mechanical part of the affair; it has to keep the 
parietes of the stomach in contact with the food, and the food in 
contact with the gastric juice; it has to bring the different parts 
of the food in successive contact with the stomach, and to propel 
them through this portion of the alimentary canal, in order 
that they may be discharged into the duodenum. The other part 
of the business,—the production of the solvent menstruum,—is 
referrible to another influence. 
The Influence of the Cerebro-Visceral Nerve on the Stomachs 
of Ruminants .—Let us turn to another of our patients, and the 
case is yet stronger. The food hastily gathered by the ox passes 
into the rumen, and there it is retained in an immense reservoir, 
macerating in the mucous fluid secreted from the cuticular coat 
of the paunch, and the portion of liquid that occasionally breaks 
through the floor of this oesophagean canal. Soon after this 
viscus is filled, the process of rumination commences. The food 
is returned to undergo a second mastication : but, how returned ? 
Why, in the precise order in which it was swallowed, and has 
been prepared by this maceration for its return. This is effected 
little while, and it pass 
digested; while liquids 
drunk. 
