188 THE VITAL FUNCTIONS. 



change. This is the case with fluid albumen : 

 the white of an egg, for instance, which is 

 nearly pure albumen, is very speedily coagu- 

 lated when taken into the stomach ; the same 

 change occurs in milk, which is immediately 

 curdled by the juices that are there secreted; 

 and these effects take place quite independently 

 of any acid that may be present. The object 

 of this change from fluid to solid appears to be 

 to detain the food for some time m the stomach, 

 and thus to allow of its being thoroughly acted 

 upon by the digestive powers of that organ. 

 Those fluids which pass quickly through the 

 stomach, and thereby escape its chemical action, 

 however much they may be in themselves nu- 

 tritious, are very imperfectly digested, and con- 

 sequently afford very little nourishment. This 

 is the case with oils, with jelly, and with all 

 food that is much diluted.* Hunter ascer- 



* A diet consisting of too large a proportion of liquids, 

 although it may contain much nutritive matter, yet if it be 

 incapable of being coagulated by the stomach, will not be 

 sufficiently acted upon by that organ to be properly digested, 

 and will not only afford comparatively little nourishment, but be 

 very liable to produce disorder of the alimentary canal. Thus 

 soups will not prove so nutritive when taken alone, as when 

 they are united with a certain proportion of solid food, capable 

 of being detained in the stomach, during a time sufficiently long 

 to allow of the whole undergoing the process of digestion. I was 

 led to this conclusion, not only from theory, but from actual 



