cavity, opposite to that at which the
gastro-duct enters it, is an aperture which communicates immediately
with the fourth cavity (_d_).

Such is a very brief description of the complicated stomach of the Ox
Tribe. In what manner the food passes through this curious arrangement
of cavities is a problem which has engaged the attention of naturalists
from a very early period. A host of great men might be cited who have
failed to solve it. The French physiologist, M. Flourens, by his recent
experiments, has done more than any or all of his predecessors to give
clearness and precision to this intricate subject.

The following is an abstract of the most important of his experiments:--

A sheep having been fed on fresh trefoil, was killed and opened
immediately,--that is, before the process of rumination had commenced.
He (M. Flourens) found the greatest part of this herb (easily recognised
by its leaves, which were still almost entire,) in the paunch; but he
also found a certain portion (_une partie notable_) of those leaves (in
the same unmasticated state) in the honeycomb. In the other two
cavities, (the many-plies and the reed,) there was absolutely none.

M. Flourens repeated this experiment a great many times, with herbs of
various kinds, and the result was constantly the same: from which it
appears, that herbaceous food, on its first deglutition, enters into the
honeycomb, as well as into the paunch; the proportion, however, being
considerably greater into the paunch than into the honeycomb. It appears
equally certain that, in the first swallowing, this kind of food _only_
enters into the first two cavities, and never passes into the many-plies
or the reed.

Having ascertained this fact with respect to _herbs_, he instituted a
similar series of experiments, in which the animals were fed upon
various kinds of _grain_,--rye, barley, wheat, oats, &c. The animals
were killed and examined, as in the former experiments, immediately
after being fed. He found the greater part of the grain unmasticated
(_tout entier_) in the paunch; but, as in the case of the herbs, he also
found a certain portion, in the same unmasticated state, in the
honeycomb. Neither the many-plies nor the reed contained a single grain.
He repeated these experiments many times, and always with the same
result.

He then tried the effect of carrots cut into pieces, from half an inch
to an inch in length; and in order that the animals might not chew the