m,
he passed them into the pharynx by means of a tube. In one of these
sheep he found all the morsels in the paunch; but, in the other two,
some of the morsels were in the honeycomb, and some in the paunch. In
all the three cases, there was none either in the many-plies or in the
reed.

He then proceeded to ascertain the effect of substances previously
comminuted. He caused a certain quantity of carrots to be reduced to a
kind of mash, with which he fed two sheep, and opened them immediately
afterwards. He found the greatest part of this mash in the paunch and in
the honeycomb; but he likewise found a certain portion in the many-plies
and in the reed.

His next experiments were made upon plain fluids. It is the opinion of
the generality of authors on this subject that fluids pass immediately
and _entirely_, along the gastro-duct, into the third and fourth
cavities. But, according to the experiments of M. Flourens, this is not
the case. He found, by making artificial openings (_anus artificiel_) in
the stomachs of various sheep, that, as the animals drank, the fluid
came directly out at the opening, in whatever cavity it might have been
made.

It is clear, then, that fluids pass, in part, into the first and second
cavities, and, in part, into the third and fourth; and they pass as
directly into the former as into the latter.

The following is the result of some experiments which M. Flourens made
respecting the formation of the pellets.

In the first place, after the animal has swallowed a certain quantity of
food the first time, successive pellets are formed of this food, which
remount singly to the mouth; secondly, there is a particular apparatus,
which forms these pellets; and, thirdly, this apparatus consists of the
two closed apertures (_ouvertures fermees_) of the many-plies, and of
the oesophagus. Thus, the first two cavities, in contracting, push the
aliments which they contain between the edges of the gastro-duct; and
the gastro-duct, contracting in its turn, draws together the two
openings of the many-plies and oesophagus; and these two openings,
_closed_ at this moment of their action, seize a portion of the food,
detach it, and form it into a pellet.

The chief utility of rumination, as applicable to all the
animals in which it takes place, and the final purpose of this
wonderfully-complicated function in the animal economy, are still
imperfectly known; what has been already suggested on these points i