276 DIGESTION. 



munity from the action of their own secretion during life is 

 sufficiently evident ; at the same time that it is apparent that 

 tissues like the stomach, and even the stomach of animals bear- 

 ing a close physiological resemblance to the human subject, 

 as, for example, tripe, are easily disposed of when used as food. 



Since the observations of Hunter, in 1772, in which it 

 was shown that the stomach could be digested after death 

 in persons killed suddenly when the organ contained an 

 abundance of gastric juice, the cause of the immunity 

 of the stomach from digestion during life has been much 

 discussed. At. the time of Hunter's observations, it was 

 still a question among physiologists concerning the exist- 

 ence of a solvent fluid in the stomach ; and the fact noted 

 by him, that there were few dead bodies in which the great 

 pouch was not in some degree digested, while in several sub- 

 jects, killed suddenly while in good health and full diges- 

 tion, parts of the cardiac portion, and sometimes even por- 

 tions of the diaphragm were entirely dissolved, was a con- 

 clusive proof of the active solvent properties of the gastric 

 juice. 1 The facts thus observed by Hunter, which belong 

 more to pathology than to physiology, were confirmed by 

 numerous physiologists ; and it only remained to demonstrate 

 the reason why solution of the coats of the stomach never 

 took place during life. 2 



The explanation offered by Hunter himself has not been 

 by all regarded as entirely satisfactory. It was assumed by 



1 JOHN HUNTER, Observations on Certain Parts of the Animal (Economy, 

 second edition, London, 1792, p. 226, and American edition of Works, Philadel- 

 phia, 1840, vol. ii., p. 144. The original paper was read before the Royal Soci- 

 ety, June 18, 1772, and was printed in the Philosophical Transactions, vol. Ixii. 



2 It has been found that when the human subject or one of the inferior ani- 

 mals is killed while in full digestion, the stomach will be digested and generally 

 perforated after death, the action taking place in the most dependent portion. 

 In order to secure this effect, it is only necessary to maintain the natural temper- 

 ature of the body ; this being a condition indispensable to the action of the 

 gastric juice, under any circumstances. We have already alluded (p. 230) to the 

 researches of Mr. T. W. King on this subject, in connection with the function of 

 different parts of the mucous membrane of the stomach. 



