26 LETTERS TO BROTHER JOHN. 



changes, ceases to be food, and becomes part and 

 parcel of the living body; when that which was 

 flesh of the dead ox becomes flesh of the living 

 man, or bone, or hair, or skin, &c. &c., according 

 to the nature of the different parts of the body to 

 which it is distributed for the purpose of being 

 assimilated. But, in fact, all the changes which 

 the food undergoes are assimilating changes, all 

 tending to that ultimate assimilation which converts 

 the fluid food into the solid body in one word, 

 its solidification. Thus the conversion of food in 

 the stomach [into chyme (learnedly called chymifi- 

 cation) is its assimilation to the nature of chyme : 

 its conversion into chyle (chylification) is its assi- 

 milation to the nature of chyle : its conversion into 

 blood (sanguification) is its assimilation to the 

 nature of blood : and if we wish to particularize any 

 one of these changes, we have only to name the 

 organ in which it takes place. Thus, if we wish to 

 designate those particular changes which take 

 place in the stomach, commonly called digestion, 

 we have only to speak of them as " assimilation in 

 the stomach "; while " assimilation in the lungs " is 

 the proper term by which to designate that particular 

 process by which the chyle is converted into blood. 

 Now that we have got rid of the word digestion, 



