POOD OF MAN AND OTHER ANIMALS.. 127 



are digested. The result of these inquiries show that 

 of the meats, pork is that which passes most rapidly 

 through the digestive process ; next to this, mutton, then 

 veal, and lastly, beef, which by these experiments, ap- 

 pears to be the least digestible food of these four kinds of 

 meat. 



By other experiments, he found that fish and cheese 

 are substances of very easy digestion, and that the potato 

 passes through the process with facility, though with less 

 rapidity than the others. Its skin is entirely indigestible. 

 These experiments were chiefly made on dogs. 



Some of these results accord with the general experi- 

 ence and prejudices of dyspeptics and gastronomies, 

 while others do not. There is, however, a great differ- 

 ence in the action of different stomachs, which often 

 appears to depend entirely on preconceived opinions 

 and prejudices. 



There is an intimate connection between the gastric 

 organs and the brain, and in consequence of which, an 

 opinion formed with respect to the capability of the 

 stomach to digest a given substance, is often found an 

 experiment to be realized. Let a sedentary dyspeptic, 

 for instance, get the opinion firmly rooted in his mind, 

 that he cannot digest pork, or beef, or white bread, or 

 any other article, and let him try by way of experiment 

 any of these, and the opinion previously formed will 

 undoubtedly be confirmed. 



On receiving such diet, the man begins to examine 

 his feelings ; he places his whole mind on his stomach ; 

 and whether it be so or not, imagines the thing lies 

 heavy, and finally actually becomes distressed, for fear 

 he should be so. The consequence is, that the process 

 of digestion really becomes suspended, and this, on the 

 long established and well known principle, that fear and 

 anxiety by operating through the nervous system pro- 

 duce universal debility. 



Dr. Beaumont's experiments. But the most com- 

 plete and satisfactory series of experiments ever made 



What were the results of Sir A. Cooper's experiments with respect to 

 the digestion of different kinds of meat 7 What is said of the influence 

 of prejudice on digestion 1 



