The Description these give of the muscular Part of the Gullet, the late ingenious and learned Dr. Drake saith is very exact in Ruminants, but not in Men. In Men, this Coat (the second of the Gullet) consists of two fleshy Lamellæ, like two distinct Muscles. The outward being compared of strait longitudinal Fibres.——The inner Order of Fibres is annular, without any observable Angles.——The Use of this Coat, and these Orders of Fibres is to promote Deglutition; of which the Longitudinal,——shorten the Oesophagus, and so make its Capacity larger, to admit of the Matter to be swallowed. The Annular, on the contrary, contract the Capacity, and closing behind the descending Aliment, press it downwards. Drake’s Anat. vol. 1. l. 1. c. 9.
[rr] See Willis, ibid. Cowper’s Anat. Tab. 35. and many other Authors.
[ss] Promptuarium autem hoc, alimentum universum excipiens, ceu Divinum, non Humanum sit opificium. Galen. de Us. Part. l. 4. c. 1.
[tt] How great a Comprehension of the Nature of Things, did it require, to make a Menstruum, that should corrode all sorts of Flesh coming into the Stomach, and yet not the Stomach it self, which is also Flesh? Dr. Grew’s Cosmol. Sacr. c. 4.
[uu] The Food of the Castor being oftentimes, if not always, dry Things, and hard of Digestion, such as the Roots and Bark of Trees, ’tis a wonderful Provision made in that Creature’s Stomach, by the digestive Juice lodged in the curious little Cells there. A Description of whose admirable Structure and Order may be found in Blasius from Wepser; concerning which he saith, In quibus Mucus reconditus, non secus ac Mel in Favis.——Nimiram quia Castoris alimentum exsuccum, & coctu difficillimum est, sapientissimus & summè admirandus in suis operibus rerum Conditor, D. O. M. ipsi pulcherrimâ istâ & affabrè factâ structurâ benignissimè prospexit, ut nunquam deesset Fermentum, quod ad solvendum, & comminuendum alimentum durum & asperum par foret. Vid. Blas. Anat. Animal. c. 10. Confer etiam Act. Erud. Lips. Ann. 1684. p. 360.
Most of our modern Anatomists and Physicians attribute Digestion to a dissolving Menstruum; but Dr. Drake takes it to be rather from fermentative, dissolving Principles in the Aliment it self, with the Concurrence of the Air and Heat of the Body; as in Dr. Papin’s Digester. Vid. Dr. Anat. vol. 1. c. 14.
[ww] All carnivorous Quadrupeds have the smallest Ventricles, Flesh going farthest. Those that feed on Fruits, and Roots, have them of a middle Size. Yet the Mole, because it feeds unclean, hath a very great one. Sheep and Oxen, which feed on Grass, have the greatest. Yet the Horse (and for the same Reason the Coney and Hare) though Graminivorous, yet comparatively have but little ones. For that a Horse is made for Labour, and both this, and the Hare, for quick and continued Motion; for which, the most easie Respiration, and so the freest Motion of the Diaphragme is very requisite; which yet could not be, should the Stomach lie big and cumbersome upon it, as in Sheep and Oxen it doth, Grew, ib. Chap. 6.
[xx] The Dromedary hath four Stomachs, one whereof is peculiarly endowed with about twenty Cavities, like Sacks, in all Probability for the holding of Water. Concerning which, see [Book VI. Chap. 4. Note (a).]
[yy] To assist in which Office, they swallow small angular Stones, which are to be met with in the Gizards of all granivorous Birds; but in the Gizard of the Iynx, or Wryneck, which was full only of Ants, I found not one Stone. So in that of the Green Wood-Pecker (full of Ants and Tree-maggots) there were but few Stones.
[zz] In most carnivorous Birds, the third Ventricle is Membranous; where the Meat is concocted, as in a Man: Or somewhat Tendinous, as in an Owl; as if it were made indifferently for Flesh, or other Meat, as he could meet with either. Or most thick and tendinous, called the Gizard; wherein the Meat, as in a Mill, is ground to Pieces. Grew, ubi supra, Chap. 9.