Human physiology / By John Elliotson ... With which is incorporated, much of the elementary part of the 'Institutiones physiologicae' of J.F. Blumenbach.

  • John Elliotson
Date:
1840
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Human physiology / By John Elliotson ... With which is incorporated, much of the elementary part of the 'Institutiones physiologicae' of J.F. Blumenbach. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    77/1214 (page 61)
    RUMINATION. 61 vegetable feeders are easily accustomed to animal food • where b ouaehntTrVnimalS' eXCepting ,e d0g- can veI7 seld°' be ot ought to feed on vegetables. “ The arguments of those who, with Helvetius i>, regard man as —r,arederived from the conformation of hfs stomach tne shortness of his caecum, &c. desti!I0drf CareM 1 * 3 * °!>Serivation> however, proves that man is not na t on fr,r , °f f°°d a‘°ne’ but fOT both. His teeth, Sne»Tu,t /r T.'i am' the P6CU]iar Structure of“tes- n the fe a b°'d a middIe rank between the same parts n the ferte and m herbtvorons animals.” In carnivorous animals, the incisors are very large; and the molares generally of an heTonLTh ^ f°rm’ th°Se °f ‘he - thole of the upper like scissors, and being adapted for lacerating. In the adapted fUS’ ,SUrfec7f ,he ra0,ares is horizontal or oblique, adapted for grinding. As the food of herbivorous animals re- quires more preparation before it becomes the substance of the imal, their stomach is adapted to retain it for a length of time. and the°P |SUS °pens nearer the rigllt extremity of the stomach, and the pylorus nearer the left, so that a blind pouch is left on ei ei side. In the carnivorous, the reverse is the case, and For SthmaC ' < y 'd™31, t0 favour the qoich passage of the food. For the same reason, the intestines in the latter, even among insects, are generally shorter, and have fewer valvute connivente?, and in some instances no caecum. Blumenbach has seen four examples of this kind: in two the process wa, ea7“ 2 tW° h °P!iOn01- TW were males, and had a 3Crr'“ 1T» translated by Messrs. h-_,nfol . ison, ja edit. p, 88. A case of human rumination, in a man, 1832. 7 6611 S6en ^ thC L°nd0n HospitaL London Medical Gazette, June 23. b “ De VHomme, t. ii. p. 17.” , 1 The °PMniT °f BrOUSSonet is s*nSular- He thinks the human molares dosdy resemble the teeth of herbivorous animals, and at the same time rebels metsores and camm as allied to those of the carnivorous tribes • and after comparing the number of the molares with that of the other teeth, concludes tha* asTto it g6table f0°d intended f°r man is to the q^ntity of animal food . “ But on this calculation it follows, that infants, who have four in each jaw, are destined to consume a larger portion of animal food thaTadnltf since the proportion of the molares to the other teeth is in them as 8 to 12” ’ E 7— F