An History of the Earth, Vol. 2 of 4: And Animated Nature (Classic Reprint)

Excerpt from An History of the Earth, Vol. 2 of 4: And Animated NatureOf infects, the ruminating tribe is still larger; the mole, the cricket, the wasp, the drone, the bee, the grashopper, and the beetle. All these animals either actually chew the cud, or seem at least to ruminate. They have the stomach composed of muscular fibres, by means whereof the food is ground up and down, in the fame manner as in those which are particularly distinguished by the appellation of ruminants.But not these alone; men themselves have been often known to ruminate, and some even with pleasure. The accounts of these calamities, for such I must consider them, incident to our fellow-creatures, are not very pleasant to read; yet I must transcribe a short one, as given us by flare, in the philosophical transactions, as it may, in some measure, show the satisfaction which the lower tribes of animals enjoy, while they ruminate. The man in question was a citizen of Bristol, of about twenty years of age, and, what seemed more extraordinary dill, of a ruminating family, for his father was frequently subject to the fame infirmity, or amusement, as he himself perhaps would call it. This young man usually began to chew his meat over again within about a quarter of an hour after eating. His ruminating after a full meal, generally laded about an hour and a half; nor could he sleep until this task was performed. The victuals, upon the return, tasted even more pleasantly than at first; and returned as if they 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 time, it produced sickness and disorder, and he was never well till it returned. Instances of this kind, however, are rare and accidental; and it is happy for mankind they arc so. Of all other animals, we spend the lead time in eating: this is one of the great distinctions between us and the brute creation; and eating is a pleasure of so low a kind, that none but such as are nearly allied to the quadruped, desire its prolongation.About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.comThis book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.