298 Food, 



fly upon all occasions ; and more especially when they consider the 

 enemy to be at the gates. Now, however trifling the considera- 

 tion may seem to be to the ignorant, whether the stomach of 

 a Horse, labouring under a dangerous acute disease, be left to 

 itself, and to the kindly operations of nature, in order to recover its 

 suspended powers, or be oppressed and distended with fermentative 

 materials ; in other words, whether the organ be, or be not, con- 

 verted into a temporary fermenting vat, it appears, nevertheless, to 

 mc, to be one of immense importance. 



From this digression, I return to a further consideration of soine 

 of the properties of the gastric juice. This liquid is found not to act 

 indiscriminately upon all substances, for though (as has been shewn) 

 it is capable of dissolving sohd bone, yet, if grains of corn are in- 

 closed in a perforated tube, and a graniverous bird be made to swal- 

 low it, the corn will remain the usual time in the stomach, without 

 alteration ; but, if the husk of the grain be removed, the whole will 

 be converted into chyme. Here then the grinding powers and the use 

 of the gizzard, are plainly and strongly exemplified. 



So little, however, has the hardness or softness of bodies to do with 

 rendering them more or less susceptible of the action of the gastric 

 juice, that the seeds of apples or even ripe currants that have been 

 swallowed whole, are known to pass unaltered through the human 

 stomach and intestines (which are capable of digesting solid bone) 

 and it is certain that every grain of corn that escapes being crushed 

 by the teeth of a Horse, passes through the intestinal canal entire, 

 and consequently cannot contribute in the smallest degree, to the 

 nourishment of the animal. It seems, therefore, that skins and 

 husk*} are capable of resisting the action of a fluid, which can dissolve 



