ON INDIGESTION. 



197 



stances ; the experiments here given therefore only confirm 

 what has ah-eady been advanced. They do not equally ad- 

 mit however, that the spirituous fermentation may take place 

 there. This our author asserts ; but as it is a mere assertion, 

 the subject deserves farther inquiry. 



Physiologists have long been convinced, that fermentation Vinous, acid, 

 is necessary to digestion, and that it may be of the spirituous, mRHtiltions 

 acid, or putrid kind. Some alimentary substances are tako p'.ate in it. 

 liable to all three, as several observations show: but in general 

 every article of food undergoes that fermentation, wjiich is 

 most analogous to its nature. 



As we are acquainted with one kind of fpirituous ferraen- Experiment to 

 tation only, and one of putrid, I shall make no mention of ^^^eitain ihe 

 these two fermentations. But the same cannot be said of a^id formed ia 

 the acid fermentation, since it gives rise to several acids indigestion. 

 differing in their nature, with which it is of importance to 

 become acquainted, to fix the opinion of chemists on this 

 head. Accordingly I determined to make on myself the 

 experiments I am about to describe. 



1. Knowing that njy stomach is incapable of digesting Ei<Ti,t ounces 

 roasted chesnuts without great difficulty, occasioning always ofioastedches* 

 eructations, followed in a few instants by insupportable "" "^ «'^^^n. 

 heartburn ; I took eight ounces, which I ate without bread, 

 .alter fasting thirteen hours, and. having my stomach per- 

 fectly emptj-. An hour and half after eating them I ex- xheir effects. 

 perienced a swelling in my stomach, an effect that amyla- 

 ceous substances commonly have with me. This indicating 

 the production of some gas, I prepared to collect it in the 

 following manner. I took a funnel with a long semicircular 

 pipe, the small end of which opened under a jar filled with 

 water iti the pneumatic trough: and I took care to fill the 

 trough with water, so as to cover the whole of the tube, that 

 I might lose none of the gas, which I knew I should emit. 

 In fact, a few minutes after I felt my stomach still more 

 dilated, and soon had eructations, which I collected by 

 putting my mouth into the funnel. Thus I obtained at (^a^bonic acid 

 different times a cubic inch of gas, which had all the gas produced, 

 characters of carbonic acid, and a small portion of atmos- 

 pheric air, which the food always carries down with it, as 

 being necessary to digestion. 



The 



