SECRETION OF GASTRIC FLUID. 271 



stomach in a state of continual irritation, however slight, it can scarcely 

 be doubted that the foundation is thus laid for future disorder of a more 

 serious kind. Two circumstances especially tend to maintain this prac- 

 tice in adults, independently of the mere disposition to gratify the 

 palate. One is the habit of eating the same amount of food, as during 

 the period of growth, when more was required by the system. The 

 other is the custom of eating too fast ; and this is injurious, both by 

 preventing sufficient mastication, and thus throwing on the stomach 

 more than its proper duty, and also by causing an over-supply of food 

 to be ingested, before there is time for the feeling of satisfaction to 

 replace that of hunger ( 486). 



476. Of the Albuminous, Saccharine, and other matters dissolved in 

 the Chyme, there is reason to believe that part are absorbed through 

 the blood-vessels so copiously distributed on the walls of the stomach 

 ( 492). The remainder, with the undissolved matters, pass into the 

 duodenum, where the chyme is mingled with the biliary and pancreatic 

 secretions. The secretion of Bile is evidently a process of the highest 

 importance in the economy ; as we may judge alike from the size of the 

 Liver and the supply of blood it receives, and from the rapidly fatal 

 effects of its suspension. That a part of it is purely excrementitious, 

 and is poured into the intestinal tube for the purpose of being carried 

 out of the body, cannot be questioned ; but there is strong evidence, 

 that a part of it is destined to be absorbed again, after performing some 

 action of importance upon the contents of the alimentary canal. In 

 all but the very lowest animals, we find traces of a bile-secreting appa- 

 ratus ; and this is almost constantly situated in the immediate neigh- 

 bourhood of the stomach. In many cases, the secretion is poured directly 

 into the cavity of that organ ; but in most, it is conveyed (as in Man) 

 into the intestinal tube near its commencement. Hence it seems clear, 

 from the disposition of the biliary apparatus, that it has a purpose to 

 serve in connexion with the digestive function, and is not destined solely 

 for the elaboration of a product which is to be cast out of the body ; 

 since, if the latter were the case, that product would be carried out 

 immediately, like the urinary excretion, and would not be discharged 

 into the alimentary canal high up. This conclusion is confirmed by 

 experiment ; for it has been shown that, if the bile-duct be divided, and 

 be made to discharge its contents externally through a fistulous orifice 

 in the walls of the abdomen, instead of into the intestinal canal, those 

 animals which survive the immediate effects of the operation, exhibit 

 indications of the imperfect performance of the digestive operation. At 

 first they eat much, but their food does not seem to impart to them an 

 adequate amount of nutrition ; afterwards they lose their appetite, be- 

 come thin, and usually die after an interval of some months passed in 

 this state. If, however, they be allowed to lick the orifice, so as to 

 receive the fluid discharged from it into their stomachs, these injurious 

 results do not follow. The observation of disease in the human subject 

 leads to similar conclusions ; for, when the biliary secretion is deficient, 

 or its flow into the intestine is obstructed, the digestive processes are 

 evidently disordered ; the peristaltic action of the bowels is not duly 

 performed ; the faeces are white and clayey ; and there is an obvious 



