222 On Chronic Debility 



in health, aided by the same quantity of air and moisture, 

 out of the stomach, will occasion all the substances which 

 we use for food, to putrefy in a few hours. 



The time requisite for the due performance of the di- 

 gestive process is very different in different animals. — 

 Some substances, also, require a longer time than others 

 to undergo this process; and individuals of our species 

 differ not a little in the strength and activity of their di- 

 gestive powers. Some animals can live with little or no 

 apparent inconvenience, a considerable period, without 

 fresh supplies of food. Bears are said to remain, in ma- 

 ny instances, through a large part of the winter, in this 

 situation ; and I have been informed of a Wood Hatch, 

 which continued more than two months in a torpid state, 

 in the winter season ; but on being brought into a warm 

 room, became after a little period, active and sprightl}^, 

 and continued perfectly healthy. Some species of in- 

 sects and reptiles are known to live many months, and 

 probably years, in a similar situation. To our species, it 

 seems to be almost universally indispensable to the en- 

 joyment of good health, to take food, once or oftener, ev- 

 ery day. Digestion is, also, not a little influenced by va- 

 rious extrinsic or adventitious causes, such as the quali- 

 ty of the food ; a redundant or deficient quantity ; the 

 good or ill preparation of it by coockeiy ; and a due de- 

 gree of mastication, or the want of it. On these subjects, 

 though they furnish room for copious and interesting re- 

 marks, I cannot in this place dwell. Some observations 

 concerning them, I shall make in the sequel. These and 

 other causes may vary the time requisite for the due per- 

 formance of the digestive process, in different persons, 

 and in the same person, at different times ; but, in most 

 healthy people, it is completed at some period between 

 three and six hours, from the reception of the food into 

 the stomach. 



To a person in high health, or possessing what is term- 

 ed a good stomach, no directions are generally necessary. 

 The appetite is here usually the directress. But to one, 

 who has the misfortune to possess a stomach permanent- 

 ly debilitated, a train of evils commonly ensue, sufficient- 

 ly distressing to make any information on the subject in-^ 

 teresting. 



