18 



STUtrCTURE AND OFFICE OF THE STOMACH. 



An instance 

 observed by 

 the author. 



The contents 

 not discharged 

 by the first ef- 

 fect of an eme- 

 tic. 



Cramp of th« 

 Momach. 



Indigestion. 



instances. Of these, two were examined after death. In ons 

 Of them the CEs6phagus was unusually muscular, but nothing 

 particular was met with in the stomach : in the other, nothing 

 issaiJ of the oesophagus, but the internal surface of the sto- 

 mach was very rough. 



The fact, however, docs not rest on these authorities, since 

 a case of this kind has come within my own observation. 



The instance to which I allude, is a man 19 years of age, 

 blind, and an ideot from his birth, who is now alive. He is 

 very ravenous, and they are obliged to restrict him in the 

 quantity of his food, since, if he eats too much, it disorders his 

 bowels. Fluid food does not remain on his stomach, but comes 

 up again. He swallows his dinner, vyhich consists of a pound 

 a"nd a half of meat and vegetab-les, in two minutes, and in 

 about a quarter of an hour he begins to chew the cud. I was 

 once present on this occasion. The morsel is brought up from 

 the stomach with apparently a very slight effort, and the mus- 

 cles of the throat are seen in action when it comes into the 

 mouth; he chews it three or four times-, and swallows it j; 

 there is then a pause, and another jnorsel is brought up. This 

 process is continued for half an hour, and he appears to ba- 

 more quiet at that time than at any othoF. Whether the re- 

 gurgitation of the food is voluntary or involuntary cannot be 

 ascertained, the man being too"<leficient in understanding, to 

 give any information on the subject. 



This contraction of the stomach also explains the circum- 

 stance of its contents not being completely discharged, by the 

 first effect of an emetic, which only empties the cardiac por- 

 tion: the contraction preventing the pyloric portion from be- 

 ing, emptied till the violenge of the straining ceases, at which 

 time relaxation takes place. 



It may also enable us to account for many symptoms that 

 occur in' the diseases of this organ, particularly the violent 

 cramps, to which it is liable : as from the situation of the pain- 

 they pVobably arise from preternatural contractions of these 

 muscular fibres. On the other hand, the indigestion met 

 with in debilitated stomachs may proceed from this part hav- 

 ing lost its proper degree of action, and therefore the food is 



not 



