GASTRIC JUICE. 395 



The perforation was about two inches and a half in circumfe- 

 rence ; and at first the food and drink constantly exuded unless 

 prevented by a tent, compress, and bandage. During the win- 

 ter of 1823-4, a small fold or doubling of the coats of the sto- 

 mach appeared, forming at the superior margin of the orifice, 

 slightly protruding and increasing till it filled the aperture, so as 

 to supersede the necessity of the compress and bandage for re- 

 taining the contents of the stomach. This valvular formation 

 adapted itself to the accidental orifice so as completely to pre- 

 vent the efflux of the gastric contents when the stomach was full, 

 but it was easily depressed by the finger, so as to give free ac- 

 cess to the cavity of the stomach, and allow the introduction and 

 removal of any substances, the digestibility of which was an ob- 

 ject of experiment. 



Dr Beaumont had ample opportunity of viewing the appear- 

 ance of the inside of the stomach, as Alexis St Martin was his 

 servant for several years, and was subjected by him to various 

 courses of experiment, in order to determine the phenomena that 

 attend the conversion of food into chyme in the stomach. 



The inner coat of the stomach in its natural and healthy state 

 is of a light or pale pink colour, varying in its hues according to 

 its full or empty state. It has a soft and velvety appearance, and 

 is covered with a very thin transparent viscid mucus lining the 

 whole interior of the organ. 



Immediately beneath the mucous covering, and apparently 

 incorporated with the villous membrane, appear small, spheroidal, 

 or oval-shaped globules, from which the mucous matter appears 

 to be secreted. 



When food or other irritants are applied to the innermost coat 

 of the stomach, innumerable minute lucid points and very fine 

 papillae can be seen (by means of a magnifying glass), arising 

 from the villous membrane, and protruding through the mucus, 

 from which distils a pure, limpid, colourless, slightly viscid fluid, 

 which constitutes the true gastric juice. 



This liquid is invariably acid, while the mucous matter which 

 covers the inside of the stomach has no taste whatever. The gas- 

 tric juice thus discharged is absorbed by the aliment in contact 

 with it, or collects in small drops and trickles down the sides 

 of the stomach to the more dependent parts, and there mingles 

 with the food, or whatever else may be contained in the gastric 



