198 



Heartburn. 



The contents 

 of the stomach 

 examined. 



Part perhaps 

 had bc'jn ab- 

 sorbed. 



Appearance. 



An acid pre- 

 sent. 



Distilled. 



Products vine- 



ON INDIGESTION. 



The swelling of my stomach being diminished by the ab- 

 straction of this carbonic acid gas and atmospheric air; and 

 the acid fermentation appearing from the heartburn I began 

 to feel, to have gone through all its stages ; I prepared to 

 follow lip my experiment. 



2. The object was to ascertain the nature of the acid 

 contained in my stomach : and this could only be done by 

 bringing it up, that I might find out its specific characters 

 by subsequent examination. 



Accordingly I took twenty grains of ipecacuanha, mixed 

 with three ounces of distilled water, at one dose : and a 

 quarter of an hour after I drank warm distilled water to the 

 quantity of fourteen ounces, without producing any effect. 

 Three ounces more however made me bring up at twice all 

 I had taken. 



On weighing the whole, I found it amounted to two 

 ounces less than I had eaten and drank. Whether the sto- 

 mach had digested the two ounces of fluid that were de- 

 ficient, or they had been absorbed, I cannot say. * 



What I had brought up resembled feculce diffused in 

 water; which showed, that the fermentation had destroyed 

 the alimentary substance I had eaten, particularly as the 

 smell was strongly acetous. This smell confirmed the idea 

 I had long conceived, that vinegar is formed in cases of in- 

 digestion, and encouraged me to go through with my ex- 

 periments. 



3. I dipped litmus paper into it, which was immediately 

 reddened. A little dropped into an infusion of violets red- 

 dened it instantly. Thus I was convinced of the existence 

 of an acid, and I had recourse to the following means for 

 ascertaining its nature. 



4. Having put the whole into a glass retort, I adapted 

 to it a globular receiver, furnished with a tube of safety, 

 and with a curved tube terminating under a jar in the 

 pneumatic apparatus, to receive the gas that might be dis- 

 solved in the matter I was examining. The whole being 

 luted, I heated it gradually till it boiled; and kept it in 

 this btiite till the matter in the retort began to acquire con- 

 sistency. I then unluted my apparatus, and found in the 

 receiver sixteen ounces and half of a very clear fluid, the 



smell 



