336 ON THE SENSIBLE PHENOMENA OF RUMINATION. 
the esophagus with the hand, the contractile force which caused 
the cud to ascend, and this has been followed by its re-descent. 
But whereto? Into the rumen, the reticulum, or the maniplusl 
We can answer only by hypothesis. It is probable that such 
aliment as had not received sufficient attrition should fall back 
into the first two compartments, such parts as contained the 
most fluid passing into the reticulum, those the most solid into 
the rumen. 
The deglutition of rumination is attended with a remarkable 
phenomenon. While it is going on, and the aliment is being 
subjected to the action of the jaws, a motion is perceptible along 
the esophagus. M. Colin asks the reason for this? In our 
opinion it is owing to the involuntary deglutition of liquid 
matters left in the back of the throat by the passage of the 
cud. In proof whereof comes the shortness of the interval 
between the commencement of mastication and this perceptible 
motion. At the time the aliment is re-ascending into the mouth, 
there is to be heard along the esophagus a guggling sort of 
noise: in some cases it amounts to a kind of eructation. The 
cud no sooner reaches the esophagus than there comes to be 
seen, after a slight catch (soubresant), a fresh cud re-ascending 
to the mouth with a speed nearly equal to that with which the 
other descended. These intermediate deglutitions going on 
without any cessation of mastication, we have shewn that they 
commence immediately the cud has entered the mouth, and 
are involuntary, their number varying from two to three, rarely 
being four. One or two happen consecutively; but it is rarely 
we reckon four during the mastication of the cud. If at this 
time the ear be applied to the left side of the pharynx, bor- 
borysm is heard at the time deglutition takes place, when the 
cud arrives in the mouth, at the very moment even that it is 
passing over the isthmus of the throat. In general, the quantity 
of fluid which ascends along with the cud in order to facilitate 
its passage and prove effective for ruminatory mastication, is 
considerable, especially when animals are fed on green forage 
or roots. 
M. Colin asserts, that no more than four or five seconds 
elapse between the deglutition and rejection of the cud, but 
does not inform us how such calculation is arrived at. To pro¬ 
perly estimate the time, we should reckon the number of seconds 
intervening between the cessation of mastication at the moment 
of voluntary deglutition, and the return of a fresh cud into the 
mouth to be masticated. And short as is this interval, yet is it 
divisible into three acts :—the descent of the chewed cud ; the 
formation of a fresh cud ; and the ascent of the last. 
We can understand its being necessary that the swallowed 
