SECT. XVIII. PHYSIOLOGY. 149 
cccixvitl. The stomach, besides being liable to 
spasm from changes in the distribution of the 
blood, is still more obnoxious to it from the 
contact of foreign bodies with its internal surface. 
All fermented liquors, in moderate quantities, 
raise the nervous action of the stomach; but let 
them be taken to excess, and vomiting follows. 
Change of temperature has often considerable 
effect in producing contraction of the stomach 
after drinking, by the contraction of the extreme 
vessels occasioning a sudden Hdefeymination. of 
blood to the cavities. 
cccLx1x. When the vitality of the stomach is 
morbidly increased, as in fever, or inflammation 
of its coats, even the presence of ordinary 
aliment, or the blandest liquid, convulses the 
stomach, which becomes quiet after the expulsion 
of its contents. In such a state of the stomach, 
its. contractions should not be referred to an 
augmentation of the expansize vital force, but to 
a contractile power, generated from the contact of 
a foreign body with the inflamed organ; for if 
these convulsive motions of the stomach pro- 
ceeded from mere increased vitality, then there 
would not be those long intermissions of vomiting 
which constantly occur when the stomach has 
evacuated its contents, however violent the in- 
flammation may be. 
