CHAP. 68.—THE THROAT; THE GULLET; THE STOMACH.
Man only, and the swine, are subject to swellings in the
throat which are mostly caused by the noxious quality of the
water [Note] which they drink. The upper part of the gullet is called
the fauces, the lower the stomach. [Note] By this name is understood
a fleshy concavity, situate behind the tracheal artery, and joining the vertebral column; it extends in length and breadth
like a sort of chasm. [Note] Those animals which have no gullet
have no stomach either, nor yet any neck or throat, fishes, for
example; and in all these the mouth communicates immediately with the belly. The sea-tortoise [Note] has neither tongue
nor teeth; it can break anything, however, with the sharp
edge of its muzzle. After the tracheal artery there is the
œsophagus, which is indented with hard asperities resembling
bramble-thorns, for the purpose of levigating the food, the incisions [Note] gradually becoming smaller as they approach the belly.
The roughness at the very extremity of this organ strongly resembles that of a blacksmith's file
