ON THE SENSIBLE PHENOMENA OF RUMINATION. 333 
3dly, The deglutition of the ruminated cud. 
The return of the aliment into the mouth, M. Colin regards 
as a sort of inverse or anti-peristaltic deglutition , called by M. 
Flourens, rejection. In it are two distinct acts:— 
1st, The operation by which the cud is formed, seized, and 
held by the cardiac orifice of the esophagus. 
2dly, The transmission of the cud from the stomach into the 
buccal cavity. 
The first of these acts it is that is involved in the greatest 
obscurity, owing to its being the least accessible of any of the 
phenomena of rumination: the last act is simple, sensible, and 
appreciable enough. 
At every return of the aliment from the rumen to the mouth 
there is observable a deeper drawing of the flank than at ordi¬ 
nary times. In the eyes of many, this is no more than a respi¬ 
ratory heave—a deep inspiration; while others contend it is 
expiration. M. Girard, senior, thought that, through the con¬ 
tracted condition of the diaphragm in inspiration, as well as that 
of the abdominal muscles, rumination was set in action by the 
stomach thus having added to its own motions a powerful con¬ 
current force. M. Colin, however, is of a different opinion. 
He argues, that, at the moment of repulsion, a brisk movement 
takes place in the flank, caused by rather a deep inspiration 
momentarily succeeded by a rapid expiration; a movement 
which must precede the arrival of the cud within the cervical 
portion of the esophagus. This theory reconciles the partisans 
both of inspiration and expiration. 
Our own inquiries into this matter, however, embracing both 
the sensible and insensible phenomena of rumination, contradict 
this opinion, since nothing like it have we discovered. 
The rational mode of proceeding to us has appeared to be, to 
class the agents of rumination into two orders,—an extrinsic and 
intrinsic order. In the first category we have examined into 
the agency of the diaphragm, the abdominal muscles, the pression 
of the intestinal mass, the different movements and attitudes of 
the body. In the second place, we have endeavoured to ascer¬ 
tain whether contractions of the stomach were to be felt at any 
part of the abdomen, and, if so, to take this into account. 
When the cud has once entered the esophagus it rapidly 
travels through the canal, it being by the action of the fibres of 
the tube (described by Stenon and Peyer) that it ascends into 
the mouth. And in effecting this ascent of the cud, the action 
of the fibres is not, like that of the intestines, an undulating or 
vermiform movement, but alternate with every act of rumina¬ 
tion, by an action that comes and goes like the motion of a ship, 
and this is continued through the entire process. 
