72 THE LAWS OF ORGANIC 



fluid, the concession is as dangerous to his reason- 

 ing and conclusions as the former unconditional 

 statement ; as the quantity and quality of the blood, 

 in all his experiments in which galvanism was 

 not employed, and in which digestion was ar- 

 rested, were deficient in their most essential con- 

 ditions. 



LXIII. We may state as a principle, that 

 whatever improves the impoverished properties of 

 the blood) or equalizes its distribution, augments 

 the secretion of gastric juice ; and that whatever 

 occasions an opposite state of the sanguineous fluid, 

 retards or destroys the Junction. 



LXI V. It is not always easy to ascertain when 

 a function is capable of being performed, or, 

 in other words, what degree of general abberra- 

 tion of the system an organ will bear before it 

 is deprived of its faculty or office. The conti- 

 nuance and the force of circulation enable us in 

 some measure, at times, with precision to calcu- 

 late the extent of derangement compatible with 

 the exercise of functional power ; but the best 

 guide we possess is the temperature of the body. 

 Whenever this is much diminished, or when it 

 falls rapidly, we may rest assured, that digestion 

 will be impeded or destroyed for the time, be- 

 cause the temperature is never low, for even a 

 moderate period, without changing the properties 

 of the blood, and its usual mode of circulation. 

 Having made these observations, we are prepar- 



