POST-MORTEM DIGESTION. 237 



into the cavity of the abdomen. This phenomenon is not un- 

 frequently observed in post-mortem examinations of the human 

 body; but, as Dr. Pavy observes, the effect may be rendered, 

 by experiment, 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 pre- 

 vent its temperature from falling, not only the stomach, but 

 many of the surrounding parts will be found to have been dis- 

 solved. With a rabbit killed in the evening, and placed in a 

 warm situation (100 to 110 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, explained the immunity 

 from injury of the living stomach, by referring it to the pro- 

 tective 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 pres- 

 ence of epithelium and mucus, which are constantly renewed 

 in the same degree that they are constantly dissolved, in order 

 to remark that this theory has been disproved by experiments 

 of Pavy's, in which the mucous membrane of the stomachs of 

 dogs was dissected off for a small space, and, on killing the 

 animals some days afterwards, no sign of digestion of the 

 stomach was visible. " Upon one occasion, after removing the 

 mucous membrane and exposing the muscular fibres over a 

 space of about an inch and a half in diameter, the animal was 

 allowed to live for ten days. It ate food every day, and 

 seemed scarcely affected by the operation. Life was destroyed 

 whilst digestion was being carried on, and the lesion in the 

 stomach was found very nearly repaired : new matter had 

 been deposited in the place of what had been removed, and 

 the denuded spot had contracted to much less than its original 

 dimensions." 



Dr. Pavy believes that the natural alkalinity of the blood, 

 which circulates so freely during life in the walls of the stom- 



