STOICISM 



5558 



STOMACH 



are worthy of wide reading because of their 

 appeal to the highest emotions. 



STOICISM, sto'isiz'm, belief in the doc- 

 trines of Zeno, who was called "the Stoic phi- 

 losopher," because he gave his lectures in a 

 public porch, called stoa in Greek. 



Zeno founded his school of philosophy in the 

 latter part of the fourth century B. c. Its teach- 

 ings were lofty and severe. At a time when 

 the followers of Epicurus were telling the peo- 

 ple of Athens that pleasure is the chief end of 

 existence, the Stoics taught virtue, for its own 

 sake, as the highest good. They believed in 

 the freedom of the will, in a single divinity, in 

 self-control, courage, temperance and justice, 

 and in repressing all emotion arising from pain 

 or misfortune. One of their doctrines that is 

 embodied in many a modern political creed was 

 that every human being is part of the same 

 "world soul" a universal brotherhood that 

 should dwarf all difference of rank and nation- 

 ality. 



The Stoic philosophy made a strong appeal 

 to the Romans, and Epictetus became the 

 founder of the New Stoic school, to which be- 

 longed also such great thinkers as Seneca, 

 Cicero and Marcus Aurelius, "the flower of 

 Stoicism." It has had a marked influence on 

 the thought of the world; it helped to prepare 

 the world for the acceptance of Christianity. 



Consult Gomperz' A History of Ancient Phi- 

 losophy; Davidson's The Stoic Creed. 



Related Subjects. In connection with this 

 discussion of Stoicism, the reader is referred to 

 the following articles in these volumes: 

 Epictetus Seneca 



Epicurus Zeno 



Philosophy 



STO'LA, the characteristic garment of the 

 Roman matrons, worn over the tunic. It was 

 very full, and was gathered in at the waist by 

 a girdle, falling in soft folds to the ankles or 

 feet. The stola was frequently ornamented at 

 the throat by a Grecian or colored border, and 

 was fastened at the shoulder by a fibula, or 

 ornamental brooch. To complete the Roman 

 costume, the palla, a loose mantle, was draped 

 over the stola in a shawl-like effect. To women 

 who had been divorced from their husbands, 

 the wearing of the stola was forbidden by law. 

 See Tuxic. 



STOMACH, stum'uk, a muscular, elastic 

 bag, constituting one of the most important 

 organs of digestion. It lies crosswise in the 

 abdominal cavity, beneath the diaphragm and 

 between the liver and the spleen (see illustra- 



tion, page 7). The stomach, which is really an 

 enlargement of the alimentary canal, is cone- 

 shaped and curves upward at both ends. At 

 the upper left side it opens into the oesophagus, 

 or gullet, and at the right end, which is the 

 narrowest part, it 

 opens into the 

 small intestine 

 (see illustration, 

 page 1796). The 



opening between ^J^^^^^j^ b 

 the stomach and 

 small intestine is 

 known as the py- 

 loric orifice. Un- 

 der moderate dis- 

 tension the 

 stomach is twelve 

 inches in length 

 and four inches 

 across at the 

 widest part. It 

 then holds about 

 three pints. 



Digestion takes 

 place in this or- 

 gan through the 

 secretion of gas- 

 tric juice. This 

 is a yellowish 

 fluid consisting of 

 water, salts, mu- 

 cus, hydrochloric 

 acid and the fer- 

 ments pepsin and 

 rennin. Gastric 

 juice is secreted 

 by numerous 



STOMACH 



Diagrammatic section 

 glands in the mu- through coats of stomach, 



highly magnified, 

 cous membrane (a) Duct of gastric gland 

 TT,k;u f^ +u < & ) Mucous membrane 

 which forms the (c) Muscular coat of mucous 

 inside lining of membrane 



(d) Submucous coat 



the stomach, (e) Circular muscles 

 Next to this (/) Longitudinal musclei 



lining there is a submucous coat which binds 

 the mucous membrane down to a muscular 

 coat. The latter contains circular longitudinal 

 muscle fibers. These relax and contract and by 

 their movements cause the food to be thor- 

 oughly mixed with gastric juice. The outer 

 layer of the stomach is formed of serous mem- 

 brane. 



Abuse of the stomach is the source of many 

 ills to which the human race is subject. For 

 suggestions about proper eating habits, see the 

 articles LIFE EXTENSION and HEALTH HABITS. 



