ON THE INGEST A AND EGESTA 9 



debris, after complete metabolism. The materials so 

 egested, if we could possibly succeed in weighing them, 

 would exactly, of physical necessity, correspond to the sum 

 of the material ingested, plus, or minus, irregularity (if 

 any) for the time being ; the various chemical and physio- 

 logical changes undergone by the ingesta and egesta 

 would likewise represent the quantity of energy released 

 and expended on the total functional work of the entire 

 organism during the time occupied in the processes of 

 ingestion and egestion. 



The processes of ingestion and egestion must, therefore > 

 balance each other, and form the counterparts of one great 

 integrative and disintegrative process or whole, the various 

 portions or parts of which, if health is to be secured and 

 maintained, must completely dovetail and follow each 

 other in unbroken succession and harmony. 



Errors, therefore, in quantity or quality of the ingesta 



must inevitably be followed by egestive derangement, and 



consequent disturbances of the condition of health, while 



active or passive interferences with the process of egestion 



must likewise be followed by departures from the standard 



condition, proportionate to the nature and amount of the 



errors and interferences ; thus obesity or accumulation 



may follow the former, and ailments accruing from 



emaciation or waste the latter. A large portion of the 



whole list of morbid entities, infirmities, and sufferings of 



humanity may, therefore, be said to be due to such errors 



and interferences with the balance which ought ever to 



exist between the quantity and quality of the food taken 



into the body and the amount of waste material given out. 



In pursuing the subject as thus outlined, we would take 



up more especially the latter half, viz. the process of 



egestion, or excretion, exudation, and exhalation, or the 



methods by which the body is relieved of its encumbering, 



or effete, materials ; this process is a great compound 



process, whereas the process of ingestion, in at least its 



early details, is somewhat more simple. It is concerned 



with the final ejection of disintegrated and effete, or worn 



out, organic matter, in the forms of solid, liquid, and gas, 



or vapour, and is accomplished by appropriate excretibnary 



agencies or mechanisms located at the most convenient 



