OF NATURAL HISTORY. 2^s 



effect upon it: But, if the fame hand were feparated from the bo- 

 dy, and introduced into the fame ftomach, we Ihould then find, 

 that the ftomach would immediately adl upon it. Indeed, if this 

 were not the cafe, we fliould find that the ftomach iifclf ought to 

 have been made of indigeftible materials ; for, if the living prin- 

 ciple was not capable of preferving animal fubftances from under- 

 going that procefs, the ftomach itfclf would be digefted. But we 

 find, on the contrary, that the ftomach, which at one inftant, that 

 is, while poflefled of the living principle, was capable of refifting 

 the digeftive powers which it contained, the next moment, viz. 

 when deprived of the living principle, is itfelf capable of being 

 digefted, either by the digeftive powers of other ftomachs, or by 

 the remains of that power which it had of digefting other things.' 



When bodies are opened fome time after death, a confiderable 

 aperture is frequently found at the greateft extremity of the fto- 

 mach. ' In thefe cafes,' fays Mr Hunter, ' the contents of the fto- 

 ' mach are generally found loofe in the cavity of the abdomen, 

 ' about the fpleen, and diaphragm. In many fubjecfls, this digeftive 



* power extends much farther than through the ftomach. I have 

 ' often found, that, after it had diflblved the ftomach at the ufual 



* place, the contents- of the ftomach had come into contact with 

 ' the fpleen and diaphragm, had partly diflolved the adjacent fide 



* of the fpleen, and had diflblved the ftomach quite through ; fa 

 *■ that the contents of the ftomach were found in the cavity of the 

 ' thorax, and had even affeded the lungs in a fmall degree.' 



G g. 2 C H A P. 



