50 GASTRIC JUICE. 



men," said he to his class one day, " some phisiologists 

 will have it, that the stomach is a mill ; others, that it is 

 a fermenting vat ; others again, that it is a stew-pan : 

 but in my view of the matter, Gentlemen, it is neither 

 a mill, a fermenting vat, nor a stew-pan ; but a stom- 

 ach, Gentlemen, a stomach." While endeavoring to 

 explain it on chemical and mechanical principles, they 

 seemed to have forgotten altogether, that it is eminently 

 a vital process produced by the action of vital laws. 

 The first insight into the true nature of digestion, was 

 obtained by the illustrious Reaumur. He attributed 

 it to the agency of a peculiar fluid found in the stomach, 

 being a secretion from that organ, which is styled the 

 gastric juice, and though he over estimated its singular 

 properties, yet his notions in the main are correct and 

 have been, confirmed rather than discredited by time. 

 Some of the experiments that have been made to test 

 the powers of the gastric juice are exceedingly conclu- 

 sive. Thus, a man who was in the custom of swallowing 

 divers heavy and indigestible articles for his own 

 amusement, was made to swallow at different times, hol- 

 low metallic balls perforated with holes and filled with 

 meats of various kinds. These balls being examined 

 after a certain time, their contents were invariably found 

 reduced to perfect chyme. If the gastric juice be the 

 sole agent in digestion, it must be the most powerful 

 solvent in nature, not only dissolving the hardest sub- 

 stances, as bones and various grains, but materially 

 changing their chemical properties. 



Emily. I am extremely curious to know the chemi- 

 cal composition of this juice ; if it corresponds to the im- 

 portance and singularity of its effects, we might expect 

 to find in it some new substance in nature. 



Dr. B. It has been frequently analyzed, but I be- 

 lieve no substance has been detected in it not before 

 known. It is not the same in different animals, nor al- 

 ways so in the same individuals, but varies according to 

 the species and the nature of the food. It is difficult too. 



