370 CASE OF SAECINA VENTRICULI. 



vomited by a sufferer from dyspepsia ;* and MM. Boutron and 

 E. Fremy, in a paper on the lactic fermentation, observe, ' It 

 is known that the liquids contained in the stomach can, in 

 certain conditions, present a strongly acid reaction. Now, the 

 analyses made on this subject demonstrate, in these liquids, 

 the presence of lactic acid.'t 



" One thing, however, is certain, and it is the main truth 

 elicited by the analysis — viz. that the quantity of acetic acid 

 found in this case was enormous. Although we have no 

 account of the proportion discovered in the gastric juice or 

 chyme, by those who maintain its presence there, it is certain 

 that the quantity must be very small. Prout overlooked the 

 presence of an organic acid altogether, and Gmelin, the great 

 advocate of its existence, found only traces of it. But the 

 quantity of liquid ejected at once by the patient often 

 amounted to more than two quarts, which would contain 

 eighteen grains of acetic acid ; and the amount is rather 

 understated, for some portions of the liquid were necessarily 

 lost in the distillations, which, moreover, were never pushed 

 to dryness. 



" I am not aware of any case on record corresponding to 

 this ; but I forbear at present forming any opinion as to 

 whether this remarkable development of acetic acid, and the 

 occurrence of the curious organisms described by Mr. Goodsir, 

 were mutually dependent or merely coincident. 



" The liquid otherwise was not particularly examined as to 

 its salts or animal matter." 



Those who know the doubt which at present exists as to 

 the acids wliich are found in the stomach in health and 



* Transactions of the Association of Fellows and Licentiates of the College 

 of Physicians in Ireland, 1804, vol. iv. Quoted in Tiedemann and Gmelin, 

 vol. i. p. 167. 



t Annales de Chimie el de Physique, 3nie serie, torn. xii. 1841. 



