CASE OF SARCINA VENTRICULL 369 



and in the horse butyric acid.* Dunglison, who analysed the 

 gastric juice from the stomach of St. Martin the Canadian, 

 whose case has been described by Dr. Beaumont, found 

 muriatic and acetic acids.t Dumas, in his Lectures on 

 Organic Chemistry, delivered last summer (1841), stated the 

 normal acids to be the muriatic and lactic.J 



" To perplex the inquiry still further, Gmelin admitted no 

 distinction between lactic and acetic acid, or, at furthest, con- 

 ceived the former to be the latter modified by adhering animal 

 matter. Now that we know these acids to be quite distinct in 

 composition and properties, the observations of Gmelin, other- 

 wise so high an authority, lose much of their value. 



" In the preceding summary of conflicting opinions it will 

 be observed, that whilst some chemists contend for lactic and 

 others for acetic acid as the normal organic acid of the gastric 

 juice, no one professes to have found both acids in the same 

 liquid, as was the case with that which I have analysed. One 

 of these acids, then, was abnormal, but which ? It would be 

 useless attempting to decide this question by an appeal to the 

 relative worth of the authorities quoted ; it is not improbable 

 that both acids are developed during healthy digestion. Lactic 

 acid is so abundant, free or combined, in the milk, blood, urine, 

 and other parts of the body, that its existence in the stomach 

 is almost certain. As for acetic acid, it is a much rarer con- 

 stituent of animal fluids, and there can be little doubt that 

 lactic acid has often been mistaken for it. 



" In the meanwhile however, till new researches are made 

 on this subject, neither acid can be considered by its mere 

 presence as a morbid sign. I may, however, remark, that 

 lactic acid has already been found by Dr. Graves in the liquid 



* Eecherches sur la Digestion, vol. i. pp. 166-67 ; vol. ii. p. 317. 

 h Miiller, op. and loc. cit. 



$ Manuscript notes kindly furnished by Mr. Norton. 

 2B 



