C 452 ] 
me fufpeft that the true caufe was not even ima- 
gined *. 
At this time I was making many experiments 
upon digeftion, on different animals, all of which 
were killed, at different times> after being fed with 
different kinds of food ; fome of them were not 
opened immediately after death, and in fome of 
them I found the appearances above defcribed in 
the ftomach. For, purfuing the enquiry about di- 
geftion, I got the ftomachs of a vaft variety of f fh, 
which all die of violent deaths, and all may be faid 
to die in perfeft health, and with their ftomach 
commonly full j in thefe animals we fee the pro- 
grefs of digeftion moft diftindlly; for as they fwal- 
lovv their food whole, that is, without maftication, 
and fwallow ffh that are much larger than 
* The firft time that I had occafion to obferve this appearance 
in fuch as died of violence and luddenly, and in whom therefore 
I could not eafily fuppofe it to be the effeCt of difeafe in the liv- 
ing body, was in a man who had his fkull fraCtured and was 
killed outiight by one blow of a poker. Juft before this accident, 
he had been in perfect health, and had taken a hearty fupper of 
cold meat, cheefe, bread, and ale. Upon opening the ab- 
domen , I found that the ftomach, though itftill contained a good 
deal, was diilolved at its great end, and a confiderable part of 
thefe its contents lay loofe in the general cavity of the belly. 
This appearance puzzled me very much. The fecond time 
was at St. George’s Hofpital, in a man who died a few hours 
after receiving a blow on his head, which fractured his fkulL 
likewife. From thofe two cafes, among other conjectures about 
fo ftrange an appearance, I began to fufpeCt that it might be 
peculiar to-cafes of fraCtured fkulls ; and therefore, whenever I 
had an opportunity, lexamined the ftomach in every perfon who 
died of that accident : but I found many of them which had not 
this appearance. Afterwards I met w/th it in a foldier who 
had been hanged. 
the 
