1898] NOTES AND COMMENTS 151 



matter, for instance — our living frames are altogether immune. 

 But there are no bacteria in Mars, and directly these invaders 

 arrived, directly they drank and fed, our microscopic allies began 

 to work their overthrow. Already when I watched them, they 

 were irrevocably doomed, dying and rotting even as they went 

 to and fro. It was inevitable. By the toll of a billion deaths 

 man has bought his birthright of the earth, and it is his against 

 all-comers : it would still be his were the Martians ten times as 

 mighty as they are. For neither do men live nor die in vain." 



Life without a Stomach 



Although the Martians, and perhaps our remote descendants, may 

 be able to live without stomachs, yet the possession of that organ is 

 usually reckoned a necessity for human life at the present day. It 

 is therefore surprising to learn that the entire stomach of a living- 

 woman affected by a tumour was removed by Dr Carl Schlatter of 

 Zurich at the beginning of September last, and the woman is still 

 alive and well. Attempts made at St Louis and Milwaukee to 

 repeat the operation on other subjects have not proved successful. 

 At the same time the success of the original operation has shown 

 that the stomach is a less essential organ than is usually imagined. 

 Vomiting took place some time after the removal of the organ, in 

 some instances to a considerable extent, suggesting that the remain- 

 ing portion of the duodenum was becoming distended as a new 

 receptacle for food. Dr E. C. Wendt, writing in the Medical 

 Record (New York, Dec. 25), points out among the conclusions to 

 be drawn from this operation that : (1) The fluids and solids con- 

 stituting an ordinary mixed diet are capable of complete digestion 

 and assimilation without the aid of the human stomach. (2) A gain 

 in the weight of the body may take place in spite of the total 

 absence of gastric activity. (3) The general health of a person need 

 not immediately deteriorate on account of removal of the stomach. 

 (4) The most important office of the human stomach is to act as a 

 reservoir for the reception, preliminary preparation, and propulsion 

 of food and fluids. It also fulfils a useful purpose in regulating the 

 temperature of swallowed solids and liquids. 



A modern Menenius can no longer show the folly of the strike 

 of the members, since the members can readily reply that if the 

 belly continues to give itself airs they will simply chuck it out. 



The Eipening of Cheese 



In our February number (p. 77) we had some remarks about fer- 

 ment action which will enable our readers to appreciate the import- 



