^02 Food. 



dlgTstlon, as it is carried on in the stomach of living* animals ; totally 

 unconnected with any hypothesis respecting the chemical properties 

 of this fluid, when examined out of the body. For instance, Spallan- 

 zani found, by examining its effects on food, that it attacks the 

 surfaces of bodies, carries them off and unites with them so strongly 

 that they cannot be separated by filtration. It follows, therefore, 

 as a consequence, that the more intimately food is divided, the 

 more speedily it will be digested, because the gastric juice, in 

 this case, must act with more force and rapidity. This fact> 

 therefore, shews us very satisfactorily, why soups and broths or pa- 

 nada, are more easily digested and are considered hghter for invalids 

 than solid meat or bread. 



And upon the same principle it must be evident, that meal mixed 

 with water, will be more speedily and easily digested by a Horse, 

 than oats; especially on long and harrassing journies, when the sto- 

 mach begins to participate (as a muscular organ) in the exhausted 

 state of the other muscles of the body. It has been proved also, by 

 the same philosopher, that the action of the gastric juice in the 

 stomach, is encreased by a warm temperature. This fact proves the 

 importance of Count Rumford's valuable observations on diet, in the 

 course of which, he has laid great stress upon the circumstance of the 

 labouring poor, eating their food hot, in winter-time; and it offers a 

 solution (at least in part) of the good effects of water taken at meals, 

 as hot as it can possibly be sipped, in some peculiar cases of indiges- 

 tion, which have been known to be cured by this simple remedy, after 

 the patient had undergone the routine of purgatives, tonics, bitters, opia- 

 tes and stimulants, and even a course of the Bath waters without avail. 



