128 ANIMAL FUNCTIONS. 



on the subject of digestion, are those of Dr. Beaumont 

 of the U. S. Army. The subject of these experiments 

 was a man named St. Martin, who in consequence of 

 a gun-shot wound which perforated his stomach, and 

 which on healing, left an aperture into the cavity of that 

 organ, presented opportunities before unknown, for the 

 prosecution of such inquiries. The aperture was situ- 

 ated between the left breast and the pit of the stomach, 

 and of such size as to enable the experimenter to intro- 

 duce various substances, and to examine the food, taken 

 in the usual manner, at any time during the process of 

 digestion. This was done without pain to the subject, 

 who remained, with the exception of his wound, a sound 

 and healthy man, performing all the duties of a com- 

 mon laborer, with the usual strength and facility. 



Nature had formed a sort of valve which closed the 

 aperture from the interior and which prevented the con- 

 tents of the stomach from escaping, but on pushing this 

 aside and placing the body of the subject in a certain 

 position, either the food or gastric juice was obtained 

 in any desirable quantity for experiment. A pint of 

 the latter was sent to Europe for analysis and experi- 

 ment. 



The results of Dr. Beaumont's inquiries in many in- 

 stances do not materially differ from those which had 

 been made by other philosophers, but in other instances 

 they vary considerably from any which have heretofore 

 been made public. Our limits must confine us to the 

 statement of only a few of the most important results 

 among the great number which the volume contains. 



The experiments were made both by means of St. 

 Martin's digestive organ, and by the gastric juice ex- 

 tracted and placed in vials, which were kept at the tem- 

 perature of 100 degrees. 



Boiled rice was digested in the stomach in 1 hour, 

 while sago, tapioca, barley and boiled milk, require 2 

 hours and 15 minutes. Tripe and pigs feet 1 hour. 

 Turkey, roasted and boiled, goose, pig, beef's liver broil- 

 ed, lamb, and chicken were digested in from 2 hours 18 

 min. to 2 hours 45 min., so that with respect to these 

 substances, it appears that there is very little choice as 

 to time. Eggs, hard boiled, 3 L 30 nou, do. soft boiled, 



