THE VITAL PRINCIPLE — THE BLOOD. 21 



of warmth and moisture. It is a true chemical 

 solution, and what is more, the gastric juice is 

 highly antiseptic, and will immediately arrest 

 the putrefactive process, even after it has 

 advanced to a considerable extent. By a wise 

 provision this solvent will not act upon the 

 living stomach, but it will act upon the 

 stomach after death ; and many cases are on 

 record in which the coats of the stomach have 

 been more or less extensively eaten away, and 

 the adjacent parts rendered soft and pulpy by 

 its agency, a fact well known to the celebrated 

 John Hunter. 



With regard to the nature of this fluid, there 

 is now only one opinion — it is acid ; this was 

 clearly ascertained by Spallanzani. Dr. Prout 

 was, we believe, the first to prove that this acid 

 is the muriatic ; his experiments have been 

 confirmed by those of Tiedemann and Gmelin, 

 and more recently by those of Braconnot and 

 Blondelot ; so that it may now be regarded as 

 an established fact, that muriatic acid, or 

 chlorine, (in a diluted state,) is the agent by 

 which the solution of the food is effected. It is 

 a remarkable fact, that if meat be enclosed in a 

 glass tube with diluted muriatic acid, and kept 

 at the temperature of the blood, it will be con- 

 verted into a uniform semi-fluid mass, closely 

 resembling that formed by the action of the 

 gastric juice on food in the stomach, and which 

 is termed chyme. 



The muriatic acid or chlorine, which is thus 

 proved to be the essential ingredient of the 



