Delineations of the Ox Tribe: The Natural History of Bulls, Bisons, and Buffaloes.: Exhibiting all the Known Species and the More Remarkable Varieties of the Genus Bos.Vasey, George
Science
Delineations of the Ox Tribe: The Natural History of Bulls, Bisons, and Buffaloes.: Exhibiting all the Known Species and the More Remarkable Varieties of the Genus Bos.
Vasey, George
American bison; Buffaloes; Cattle; Oxen
A case of human rumination occurred some years ago at Bristol, the
particulars of which are minutely recorded in the 'Philosophical
Transactions.' It seemed, in this instance, to have been hereditary, as
the father of the individual was subject to the same habit. The young
man usually began to chew his food over again, within a quarter of an
hour after eating. His ruminating after a full meal generally lasted
about an hour and a half; nor could he sleep until this task was
completed. The victuals, upon its return, tasted even more pleasantly
than at first; and seemed as if it had been beaten up in a mortar. If he
ate a variety of things, that which he ate first, came up again first;
and if this return was interrupted for any length of time, it produced
sickness and disorder; nor was he ever well till it returned. These
singular cases are caused, no doubt, by some abnormal structure of the
interior of the stomach. No account has yet been given of the dissection
of an individual so constituted.
When cattle are at rest, or not employed in grazing or chewing the cud,
they are observed frequently to lick themselves. By this means they
raise up the hair of their coats, and often swallow it in considerable
quantities. The hair thus swallowed gradually accumulates in the
stomach, where it is formed into smooth round balls, which, in time,
become invested with a hardish brown crust, composed, apparently, of
inspissated mucilage, that, by continual friction from the coats of the
stomach, becomes hard and glossy. It is generally in the paunch that
these hair-balls are found. They vary in weight from a few ounces to six
or seven pounds. Mr. Walton, author of an 'Account of the Peruvian
Sheep,' makes mention of one that he had in his possession which weighed
eight pounds and a quarter. This hair-ball had been taken from a cow
that fed on the Pampas of Buenos Ayres. It was of a flat circular shape,
and measured two feet eleven inches and a half in circumference; two
feet eight inches round the flat part; nine inches diameter also in the
flat part; eleven inches diameter in the cross part; and, on immersing
it in water, it displaced upwards of eight quarts, which made its bulk
correspond to 462 cubic inches. The digestive functions are sometimes
seriously impaired by these concretions; a loss of appetite ensues, and
general debility.
In the Museum of Daniel Crosthwaite, there is a very extraordinary ball
of hair, taken from a fatted calf only seven weeks old. The ball of
hair, when taken out of the animal's stomach, and full of moisture,
weighed eleven ounces. The calf was fatted by Daniel Thwaite, of Dale
Head Hall, within six miles of Keswick; and slaughtered by John Fisher,
butcher, Keswick. The calf was a particularly healthy animal.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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