DIGESTION IN THE STOMACH. 113 



5. The Gastric Juice. The mucous membrane of the 

 stomach is almost entirely made up of thousands of tiny 

 glands, placed side by side nearly as close as they can 

 be packed. The liquid which these glands make is 

 poured into the stomach, and is known as the gastric 

 iuice. If you imagine a piece of honeycomb reduced very 

 much in size, and that its cells answer to the glands, you 

 will have a fair idea of how the glands lie in the mucous 

 membrane of the stomach. To complete the resem- 

 blance, each cell would have to be open at one end, and 

 through this opening to pour its honey on the surface of 

 the comb, and to keep on making honey to take the 

 place of that it had emptied out. The liquid, too, would 

 have to be much thinner than honey, and sour or acid, 

 instead of sweet. 



6. Digestion in the Stomach. When the healthy 

 stomach is empty, its mucous membrane is something 

 like grayish-pink velvet and its glands make hardly any 

 gastric juice. As soon as food is swallowed, a great 

 deal of blood flows to the mucous membrane, and it be- 

 comes red. At the same time, its glands secrete abun- 

 dantly, and, all over the surface, gastric juice trickles 

 out, like sweat on the skin of a person perspiring pro- 

 fusely. These facts were first observed many years ago, 

 on a Canadian hunter, named Alexis St. Martin, who, as 

 a result of a gunshot wound, had a small opening from 

 the surface of his abdomen into his stomach. Through 

 this opening, what was going on inside his stomach could 



5. Of what is the mucous membrane of the stomach chiefly made 

 up ? What is the gastric juice ? Illustrate. 



6. What is the state of the stomach when empty ? After swallow- 

 ing food ? How were these facts first observed ? What are the 

 chief foods acted on in the stomach ? How are they changed ? 



