POST-MORTEM DIGESTION. 295 



are frequently themselves acted on by their own secretion, 

 and to such an extent, that a perforation of considerable 

 size may be produced, and the contents of the stomach 

 may in part escape into the cavity of the abdomen. 

 This phenomenon is not unfrequently observed in post- 

 mortem examinations of the human body ; but, as Dr. 

 Pavy observes, the effect may be rendered, by experi- 

 ment, more strikingly manifest. " If, for instance," 

 he remarks, " an animal, as a rabbit, be killed at a 

 period of digestion, and afterwards exposed to artificial 

 warmth to prevent its temperature from falling, not 

 only the stomach, but many of the surrounding parts 

 will be found to have been dissolved. With a rabbit 

 killed in the evening, and placed in a warm situation (100 

 to] IIO Fahr.) during the night, I have seen in the 

 morning, the stomach, diaphragm, part of the liver, and 

 lungs, and the intercostal muscles of the side upon which 

 the animal was laid all digested away, with the muscles 

 and skin of the neck and upper extremity on the same 

 side also in a semi-digested state." 



From these facts, it becomes an interesting question why, 

 during life, the stomach is free from liability to injury 

 from a secretion, which, after death, is capable of such 

 destructive effects ? John Hunter, who particularly drew 

 attention to the phenomena of post-mortem digestion, ex- 

 plained the immunity from injury of the living stomach, 

 by referring it to the protective influence of the " vital 

 principle." But this dictum has been called in question by 

 subsequent observers. It is, indeed, rather a statement 

 of a fact, than an explanation of its cause. It must be 

 confessed, however, that no entirely satisfactory theory has 

 been yet stated as a substitute. 



It is only necessary to refer to the idea of Bernard, that 

 the living stomach finds protection from its secretion in the 

 presence of epithelium and mucus, which are constantly 

 renewed in the same degree that they are constantly dis- 



