512 CRITICAL NOTICES OF NEW PUBLICATIONS. 
would not be necessary. According to some of Dr. B.’s experiments, 
aliment is as well-digested and assimilated, and allays the sensation 
of hunger as perfectly, when introduced directly into the stomach, 
in a proper state of division, as when the previous steps of mastica- 
tion, &c., have been taken. Although Dr. B. does not wish to deny 
the utility of the saliva, he does not attach the importance to its ac- 
tion that some physiologists do. In most of the experiments, arti- 
ficial digestion was performed without its admixture, and the chyme 
thus formed exhibited the same sensible appearances, and was af- 
fected by re-agents in the same way, as that formed from food 
previously masticated, mixed with saliva, and swallowed. Its 
legitimate and only use, he considers, is to lubricate the food, and 
facilitate its passage through the organs of deglutition. 
When food is received into the stomach, the gastric vessels are ex- 
cited by its stimulus to discharge the contents, and the chymification 
commences. With respect to the agent of chymification, no part of 
physiology has perhaps so much engaged the attention of mankind. 
It has been a fruitful source of theoretical speculation from the 
father of medicine down to the present age. It was reserved for 
Spalanzani to overthrow all the unfounded hypotheses of concoction, 
putrefaction, trituration, fermentation, and maceration, and to erect 
on their ruins a theory which will stand the test of scientific exami- 
nation and experiment. He established a theory of chemical solu- 
tion, and taught that chymification was owing to the solvent action 
of a fluid secreted by the stomach, and operating as the true men- 
struum of alimentary substances. To this fluid he gave the name 
of gastric juice. Pure gastric juice, when taken directly out of the 
stomach of a healthy adult, unmixed with any other fluid, save a 
portion of the mucus of the stomach, with which it is most com- 
monly united, is a clear transparent fluid, inodorous, a little saltish, 
and very perceptibly acid. Its action on food is indicative of its 
chemical character. Like other chemical agents, it decomposes or 
dissolves, and after combining with a fixed and definite quantity of 
matter, its action ceases. When the juice becomes saturated, it 
refuses to dissolve more ; and if an excess of food have been taken, 
the residue remains in the stomach, or passes into the bowels in a 
crude state, and frequently becomes a source of nervous irritation, 
pain, and disease, for a long time, or until the natural energy re- 
stores the vessels of this viscus to their natural and healthy action, 
either with or without the aid of medicine. This important princi- 
ple ought never to -be lost sight of. Derangement of the digestive 
organs, slight febrile excitement, fright, or any sudden affection of 
the passions, causes material alteration in the appearance of the gas- 
tric juice. General febrile irritation seems entirely to suspend its 
secretion into the stomach, and renders the villous coat dry, red, 
and irritable: hence the obvious necessity of a scrupulous attention 
to diet during fever and other acute diseases. Food, under these 
circumstances, can afford no nourishment, but is actually a source 
of irritation to this organ, and consequently to the whole system. 
