60 Dr. Hastings on the 



ported by previous authority, I shall beg, as succinctly as pos- 

 sible, to detail the result of my own experience ; premising, 

 however, a few observations on the changes which, in given 

 periods, the food undergoes in the stomach of healthy animals, 

 in order that the misapplication of the term digestion, into which 

 Mr. Broughton has fallen, may not mislead his readers. 



If the stomach of a rabbit be examined immediately after it has 

 eaten, the new food is never found mixed with the old ; and the 

 only change in its appearance is that which is produced by mas- 

 tication, and the admixtures of those fluids which may be met 

 with in the stomach. The degree of moisture, therefore, at 

 this period very much depends on the kind of food that has been, 

 eaten. If, on the contrary, the animal be allowed to live four 

 or five hours after a meal, the food last taken into the stomach 

 is found considerably altered. It is still, however, retained in 

 the cardiac portion of the stomach, but is much softer, from the 

 greater abundance of the secreted fluids. Nevertheless, the 

 centre of the new food is still only slightly changed. If a still 

 longer period be allowed to elapse between the last meal and 

 the death of the animal, that is from twelve to eighteen hours, 

 the change in the food last taken will be found nearly complete. 

 The whole of the contents of the cardiac portion of the stomach, 

 which are at this time much less than immediately after a meal, 

 are now in a pulpy semi-fluid state, frequently containing the 

 small round balls which have been particularly described by Sir 

 Everard Home and Dr. Wilson Philip. The food, whether the 

 animal have, or have not, lately eaten, is drier in the pyloric por- 

 tion of the stomach, and a distinct line of separation may gene- 

 rally be drawn between the cardiac and pyloric portions. 



The state of the duodenum, gall bladder, and lacteals, also 

 varies, according as the animal has been killed, soon after a 

 meal, or after a long fast. If the animal be killed at no great 

 kngth of time after a meal, the duodenum is found to contain, 

 much chyme, the lacteals are filled with chyle, and the gall- 

 bladder is flaccid ; but, if eighteen or twenty hours be allowed 

 to elapse between the last meal and the death of the animal, the 

 dijodenum is found nearly empty, no chyle is seen in the 



