ORIGIN OF THE INTESTINAL GASES 



239 



GASES CONTAINED IN THE LARGE INTESTINE 



Origin of the Intestinal Gases. The most reasonable view to take 

 of the origin of the gases normally found in the intestines is that they 

 are given off from the articles of food in their various stages of diges- 

 tion and decomposition. That this is the principal source of the intes- 

 tinal gases, there can be no doubt ; and it is well known that certain 

 articles of food, particularly vegetables, generate much more gas than 

 others. The principal gases found in the intestinal canal may all be 

 obtained from the food. Some of them, as hydrogen and carburetted 

 hydrogen, do not exist in the blood ; and it is difficult to conceive how 

 they can be generated in the intestine except by decomposition of cer- 

 tain of the articles of food. Gases are not found in the alimentary canal 

 of the foetus. 



