Compare the slender body of the tyger, of the leopard, and of all carni- 

 vorous animals, with the heavy mass of the elephant, of the ox, and of 

 all animals, that wholly or principally live on animal food. In the child, 

 who, for his growth and clevelopement, digests a considerable quantity of 

 food, the abdomen is much more capacious than in the adult, or the old 

 man. In the child, the ensiform cartilage is situated opposite to the 

 body of the eigth or ninth dorsal vertebra. In old men, it descends to 

 the tenth or even the eleventh, so that the capacity of the abdomen de- 

 creases with the want of food, and with the activity of digestion. 



The internal organs of the body are incessantly called into action by 

 different causes, and excited to different motions*. The action of the ar- 

 terial system tends to raise the cerebral mass, and to impart to it mo- 

 tions of elevation and depression. The motion of the ribs brings about 

 the expansion and the compression of the pulmonary tissue; the heart, 

 which adheres to the diaphragm, drawn down by that muscle, when it 

 descends, strikes against, the parietes of the chest, every time its ventri- 

 cles contract. The abdominal viscera are not less agitated by the mo- 

 tions of respiration, they experience from the diaphragm and from the 

 abdominal muscles a perpetual action and re-action, by means of which, 

 the circulation of the fluids in their vessels is promoted, the course of 

 the food in the alimentary canal is accelerated, the activity of digestion 

 increased, and several excretions, as of the urine and fseces, performed. 



XIV. Of Digestion in the Stomach^. The food which is taken into the 

 stomajch accumulates gradually within its cavity, and separates its pari- 

 etes, which are always in contact with each other when it is empty. The 

 stomach, in that mechanical distention by the food, yields without re- 

 acting. It is not, however, absolutely passive; its parietes apply them- 

 selves, by a general contraction, by a kind of tonic motion to the food 

 which lies within it, and to this action of the whole stomach, the ancients 

 gave the name of peristok\. As the stomach dilates, its great curvature 

 is thurst forward, the two folds of the omentum recede from each other, 

 receive it between them, and embrace its outer and dilated part. In 

 man, the principal use of this fold of the peritoneum, appears to be to 

 facilitate the dilatation of the stomach, which expands chiefly at its fore- 

 part, as may be observed by inflating it in a dead body. As this viscus 

 becomes distended with air, the two folds of the omentum apply them- 

 selves to its surface, and if this membrane is pierced with a pin, at the 

 distance of an inch from its great curvature, the pin is observed to get 

 nearer to this curvature; but the .upper portion of the omentum can 

 alone be employed in this use, and the whole of this membranous fold is 

 never entirely occupied by the stomach. Shall we say with Galen, that 



* Before the skull is ossified, or after parts of the scullcap have been removed. When 

 the bone is entire, we have no reason to believe, that there is the slightest elevation or 

 depression of the brain. Godman. 



f See APPENDIX, Note K. 



* In order to explain correctly the functions of the stomach either in their healthy 

 or disordered state, the conformation of the muscular coat requires to be pointed out. 

 This tunic is composed of three strata ; the^rrf, or the exterior, consists of longitudi- 

 nal fibres, proceeding from the oesophagus along the axis of the stomach and continued 

 to the duodenum ; the second, or middle stratum, which is the thickest, is composed of 

 fibres that have an oblique direction, and which, surrounding the stomach, decussate 

 one another ; the third, or interior stratum, consists entirely of circular fibres, which ex- 

 tend from one curvature of this viscus to the other Copland. 



