170 ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY. 



duct, which proved fatal, ascertained by a post mortem examina- 

 tion. This fact shows conclusively the course of the chyle, the 

 only nutritious portion of the food. 



The whole of the contents of the belly are covered with a thin 

 shining membrane, called the peritoneum, which also lines the 

 boundary walls o-f that cavity. It is of the same nature as the 

 membrane which lines the chest and covers the lungs, and that 

 which surrounds the heart. Its smooth polished surface is evidently 

 intended to permit the constant gentle motions of the bowels to go 

 on easily, without our being at all sensible of them. Its inner sur- 

 face is kept moist by a thin liquid, the evaporation of which is the 

 reason why the body of an animal newly killed, is seen to smoke 

 when opened and exposed to the air. When this fluid is poured 

 out in too great quantity, the bag of the peritoneum becomes dis- 

 tended with it, and constitutes the disease called dropsy. It is cus- 

 tomary by physicians generally to tap the patient, that is, to insert 

 a small tube with a sharp point into the cavity of the belly, so as to 

 permit the water to run out. But this operation affords only tem- 

 porary relief. This membrane is exceedingly liable to become 

 inflamed, and when inflammation does come on, it runs a very rapid 

 course, and often proves speedily fatal. It is from this inflamma- 

 tion that many of those females sink, who perish after childbirth. 



Let us now devote a page or two to a notice of the diseases of 

 the alimentary canal. 



The stomach is rarely -the seat of inflammation. It is so accus- 

 tomed to have all manner of things indiscriminately, and often reck- 

 lessly poured into it, that it w r ould not be fit for its place in the body 

 if it were too easily inflamed. Many poisons, however, such as vitriol, 

 arsenic, mercury, and corrosive sublimate, produce death by exciting 

 violent inflammation of the stomach. The stomach is nevertheless 

 very subject to a low degree of inflammation or irritation, which 

 gives great uneasiness to its possessor. There are many, particu- 

 larly among the female population, and those not in the lowest ranks, 

 who can scarcely swallow any food, without its being succeeded by 

 a feeling of distension, and a sense of uneasiness, not amounting to 

 actual pain, but as distressing as if it were, producing headache, 

 giddiness, coldness of the feet, and of the surface generally, acidity, 

 with eructations of gas, and sometimes the bringing up of a mouth- 

 ful of fluid. These annoyances last till the three or four hours 

 have passed, during which the food remains in the stomach. Com- 

 plaints of this kind are exceedingly difficult to remove without pro- 



