i8o THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



He informs us that a young lady living entirely on vegetables (it being 

 lent), vpas seized with a violent affection of her stomach, and great emaciation 

 ensued. Different medicines were used, but without the least alleviation of her 

 symptoms. At length a violent vomiting commenced, and to the astonishment 

 of all present, she threw up a small plant, with perfect leaves and roots! This 

 at first sight might be looked upon as approaching the marvellous; yet why 

 should we doubt it? The authority of our author is as respectable as any other 

 of our profession; and we have just seen that seeds will vegetate when retained 

 a sufficient length of time in the stomach. The probability here was, that the 

 young lady had swallowed the seed of some small plant, without destroying its 

 texture by mastication; which being retained in the stomach, and exposed to 

 heat and moisture, vegetation progressed. 



Vegetable and animal foods alike are, then, capable of solution by 

 the gastric fluid, provided that their " organization or vital principle 

 be previously destroyed." One could thus believe the further evidence 

 that " a respectable gentleman " had seen two polar bears " that had 

 subsisted on vegetable food alone, from the time that they were taken 

 from their mother's breasts ; and that they were more than half grown, 

 and very fat." On the other hand, he cites the case of the Italian 

 naturalist who " by dint of hunger learnt a pigeon to eat meat of 

 which it became so excessively fond, that it preferred it to every other 

 kind of food, even to wheat, which in their natural state, they eat 

 before anything else." 



Will simple solution by the powerful action of the gastric fluid 

 explain the conversion of " aliment into chyle ?" asks Dr. Young. 

 Many earlier teachers had assumed that activities which we now know 

 to be associated with microorganisms play a part. The warmth and 

 moisture of the body would facilitate this fermentation and putrefac- 

 tion. Our author writes: 



Chemists divide fermentation into three kinds, the vinous, acetous and 

 putrefactive; the product of the first is vinous spirit, or alcohol; of the second, 

 acetous acid, or vinegar; of the third, ammoniac, or volatile alkali. 



In order to ascertain whether a vinous fermentation could take place in 

 the human stomach the following experiment was performed. My friend, Mr. 

 Mitchell, avoided his usual breakfast, in the place of which he took, between 

 the hours of eight and ten, twelve ounces of sugar. Nothing more was taken 

 until one o'clock. Having the power to ruminate, it was at this hour thrown 

 up; the mass was sweet: upon being put to rest no intestine motion or dis- 

 engagement of air was to be perceived. It was then submitted to distillation: 

 a limpid fluid passed over into the receiver, which was sweetish, but had none 

 of the properties of a vinous spirit. Carbonic acid gas is constantly evolved 

 during the vinous fermentation; Mr. Mitchell, therefore, paid particular atten- 

 tion to this, as long as the sugar was on his stomach; but there was not the 

 least eructation of air during the whole period the experiment was going on. 

 If ever a vinous fermentation took place in the stomach, we expected to have 

 found it in this experiment; as this viscus was plentifully supplied with sac- 

 charine matter, which passes so readily to this state; but as nothing of the 

 kind occurred, we conclude the vinous fermentation has nothing to do with the 

 digestive process. 



