ZOOLOGY. 
the same distance in the opposite direction ; the cuticular co¬ 
vering is very thin, and extremely smooth. 
The lining of the larger process, at the left extremity, is 
thick and glandular, and, in the living body, probably re¬ 
ceives no part of the food, but is to be considered as a glan¬ 
dular appendage. 
On the right of the oesophagus the cuticle does not end by 
at transverse line, but terminates, first, upon the middle of the 
great curvature, where a villous surface begins by a point, 
aud gradually increases in breadth till it extends all round 
the cavity; its origin, therefore, is in the form of an acute 
angle. The villous surface is continued over the remaining 
cavity, as far as the longitudinal bands extend; and that half 
of it next the pylorus has three rows of clusters of glands: 
one row is situated along the great curvature, and consists of 
fifteen in number; the other two rows are close to the two 
longitudinal bands, and consist only of nine. Besides these, 
there are two large clusters of an oblong form, situated trans¬ 
versely, where the longitudinal bands terminate. The in¬ 
ternal surface of the rounded cavity, next the pylorus, has a 
different structure, putting on a tesselated appearance, formed 
by a corrugated state of the membrane. Immediately be¬ 
yond the pylorus is a ring of a glandular structure, surround¬ 
ing the inner surface of the duodenum. 
The stomach of the kangaroo, in the peculiarities of its 
structure, forms an intermediate link between the stomachs 
of animals which occasionally ruminate; those which have a 
cuticular reservoir; and those with processes or pouches at 
their cardiac extremity, the internal membrane of which is 
more or less glandular. The kangaroo is found to ruminate 
when fed on hard food. This was observed by Sir Joseph 
Banks, who had several of these animals in his possession, 
and frequently amused himself in observing their habits. It 
is not, however, their constant practice, since those kept in 
Exeter Change have not been detected in that act. This 
occasional rumination connects the kangaroo with the rumi¬ 
nant. The stomach having a portion of its surface covered 
foy cuticle, renders it similar to those with cuticular reservoirs; 
and the small process from the cardia gives it the third dis¬ 
tinctive character; indeed it is so small, that it would appear 
as if it were placed there for no other purpose. 
The kangaroo’s stomach is occasionally divided into a 
greater number of portions than any other, since every part 
of it, like a portion of intestine, can be contracted separately; 
and when its length and the thinness of its coats are con¬ 
sidered, this action becomes necessary to propel the food from 
one extremity to the other. 
Such a structure of stomach makes regurgitation of its con¬ 
tents into the mouth very easily performed. The food in the 
stomach goes through several preparatory processes; it is 
macerated in the cuticular portions; it has the secretion from 
the poucli in the cardia mixed with it, and is occasionally 
ruminated. Thus prepared, it is acted on by the secretion 
of the gastric glands, which probably are those met with in 
clusters in the course of the longitudinal bands, and afterwards 
converted by the secretions near the pylorus into chyle.— 
See Sir E. Home’s Lectures on comparative Anatomy, vol. i. 
p. 155, 4to edit, to which work we are also indebted for the 
following excellent account of the structure of the stomach 
•of the camel. The structure of this part in the lama, accord¬ 
ing to the account which Cuvier has given of it in the ex¬ 
amination of a foetus, (Leqons d’Anat. comparee, tom. iii. p. 
•397,) does not differ essentially from that of the camel. 
Opportunities of examining the camel rarely occur in this 
country. One of these, however, was met with thirty years 
ago, and the late Mr. Hunter availed himself of it, and made 
•several preparations to illustrate the different parts of its struc¬ 
ture, which are now in the collection at the College of Sur¬ 
geons. As the stomach was blown up, and preserved in a 
-dry state, many peculiarities were left unexamined, particu¬ 
larly those respecting the power which the animal has of 
carrying a provision of water as a supply when traversing the 
deserts. 
Sir E. Home was led by many circumstances to be very 
desirous of investigating this subject, and in the year 1805, 
835 
a favourable opportunity presented itself; a camel in a dying 
state having been purchased by the board of curators of the 
College of Surgeons, with a view of illustrating the anatomy 
of that animal. 
As professor of Comparative Anatomy, Sir E. Home was 
directed to examine the peculiarities of the stomach, and to 
make a report on that subject. 
The camel, the subject of the following observations, was 
a female, brought frotn Arabia, twenty-eight years old, and 
said to have been twenty years in England, and twelve years in 
the possession of the person from whom the board of curators 
purchased it. Its height was seven feet from the ground to 
the tip of the anterior hump. 
In December, 1805, when it was purchased by the college, 
it was so weak, as hardly to be able to stand: it got up with 
difficulty, and almost immediately kneeled down again. 
By being kept warm, and well fed, it recovered so as to be 
able to walk, but was exceedingly infirm on its feet, and 
moved with a very slow pace. 
It drank regularly every second day six gallons of water, 
and occasionally seven and a half, but refused to drink in the 
intervening period. It took the water by large mouthfuls, 
and slowly, till it had done. The quantity of food it daily 
consumed, was one peck of oats, one of chaff, and one-third 
of a truss of hay. 
In the beginning of February, 1806, it began to shed its 
coat. Towards the end of March the wind became ex¬ 
tremely cold, and the animal suffered so much from it, that 
it lost its strength, refused its food, and drank only a small 
quantity of water at a time. 
In this state it was thought advisable to put an end to so 
miserable an- existence, and it suggested itself to the com¬ 
mittee appointed for the purposes of this investigation, that if 
this was done soon after the animal had drunk a quantity of 
water, the real state of the stomach might be ascertained. 
On the second day of April, by giving the animal hay, 
mixed with a little salt, it was induced to drink, in the course 
of two hours, three gallons of water, not having taken any 
the three preceding days, or shewn the least disposition to 
do so. 
Three hours after this, its head was fixed to a beam to pre¬ 
vent the body from falling to the ground after it was dead ; 
and in this situation it was pithed by Mr. Cline, junior, as¬ 
sisted by Mr. Brodie and Mr. Clift. 
This operation was performed with a narrow, double-edged 
poniard passed in between the skull and first vertebra of the 
neck ; in this way the medulla oblongata was divided, and 
the animal immediately deprived of sensibility. 
In the common mode of pithing cattle, the medulla spi¬ 
nalis only is cut .through, and the head remains alive, which 
renders it the most cruel mode of killing animals that could 
be devised. 
The animal was kept suspended, that the viscera might re¬ 
main in their natural state, and in two hours the cavities of 
the chest and abdomen were laid open. 
The first stomach was the only part of the contents of the 
abdomen which appeared in view. The smooth portion of 
the paunch was on the left side, and on the right towards the 
chest was a cellular structure, in which it was evident to the 
feeling that there was air; but no part of the solid food with 
which the general cavity was distended. On the lower pos¬ 
terior part, towards the pelvis, there was another portion 
made up of cells, larger and more extensive than that which 
was anterior. On pressing on this pait, a fluctuation of its 
contents could be distinctly perceived. A trochar with the 
canula was plunged into the most prominent of the cells, and 
on. withdrawing it, there passed through the canula twelve 
ounces of water of a yellow colour, but unmixed with any 
solid matter. 
This fact having been ascertained, the first cavity was laid 
open on the left side, at a distance from the cellular structure, 
and the sol id contents were all removed. 
While this was doing, some water flowed out of the ceils, 
and some out of the second cavity, but the greater part was 
retained. 
that 
