280 DIGESTION. 



vessels passing to this organ. He lias likewise shown that 

 when the circulation is arrested during life in a portion of 

 the stomach by drawing it up and applying a ligature, the por- 

 tion thus constricted will be acted upon by the gastric juice. 1 

 It must be remembered, however, that in both these experi- 

 ments, the inevitable result of the operation must be to dimin- 

 ish or arrest the nutritive processes, and thus produce substan- 

 tially the same condition which obtains after death. It is not 

 apparent, indeed, how any operation can be performed on a 

 living animal by which the circulation of the blood in the 

 walls of the stomach, or any part of the organ, will be inter- 

 rupted, without arresting the nutritive process in' the part ; 

 for these depend entirely upon a proper and constant supply 

 of the circulating fluid. Experiments have already sufficiently 

 well demonstrated the influence of different degrees of acidity 

 upon the digestive activity of the gastric juice. It is evi- 

 dent that after death, when the circulation is arrested, if any 

 considerable quantity of gastric juice should be present in 

 the stomach, the alkalinity of the small quantity of blood 

 which remains in the vessels is neutralized, and offers no ob- 

 stacle to the solvent action of the fluid, provided the proper 

 temperature be maintained. 



In endeavoring to give a satisfactory answer to the ques- 

 tion why the stomach is not acted upon by its own secretion 

 during life, it is impossible to ignore a similar inquiry which 

 presents itself with regard to the small intestine and the 

 secretions which are poured into its cavity. The intestinal 

 secretions are undoubtedly capable of digesting, to a certain 

 extent, animal tissues, although the process is much more 

 active when these tissues have first undergone preparation in 

 the stomach. The alkaline reaction of the blood cannot be 

 regarded as the condition protecting the coats of the intes- 

 tines from digestion during life, for the digestive fluids in 

 this portion of the alimentary canal are themselves alkaline. 

 Is there, then, any assignable reason, aside from the alka- 



1 Op. dt. 



