LAWS OF PHYSICAL FORCE. 329 



warm-blooded auimals is mostly kept up. This process is 

 properly enough termed combustion. It is alike known 

 that J in the act of digestion,, all sorts of food taken into the 

 stomach are decomposed and converted into one uniform 

 fluid (chyle) ^ which process bears no resemblance whatever 

 to that of combustion ; yet it is equally certain that animal 

 life depends as strictly upon the digestion of food as upon 

 healthful respiration. Indeed those chemical powers of 

 the stomach are even more hidden and wonderful than the 

 mechanical energy of the hearty before noticed. 



By the experiments of Dr. Beaumont, in the well-known 

 case of the Canadian soldier's (St. Andrews) stomach, it was 

 clearly proved that the many kinds of animal and vegetable 

 food taken were dissolved and converted into a semifluid 

 of one uniform substance in the course of about two to four 

 hours, by the juice or fluid secreted by the epigastrium, the 

 secretions following in succession and laying hold of the 

 morsels of food as they were swallowed. 



The secreted liquor (gastric juice) has never been formed 

 in any other than ^' Nature's laboratory,'' nor has the 

 chemist ever been able to discover the nature or con- 

 stituents of this general solvent. How puerile, then, to 

 talk of the analogy of these vital forces to those of slow 

 combustion. 



In conclusion let me add that I make no pretence to 

 any novelty in what is above said relating to the laws of 

 force, but merely to have noticed some of the new prin- 

 ciples and views that appear to be wholly untenable under 

 every known law. To treat fully the many physical ques- 

 tions connected with the natural forces, and especially 

 those of the vital forces, would demand (in place of a few 

 pages) a work of ample size and labour, without exhausting 

 the inquiries concerning obscure phenomena. 



