632 A Plea for the Stomach. 
cases instanced, all similarity ends when we come to con- 
sider results. A people, when load upon load has been 
added to their burden and the weight becomes insupport- 
able, may arise in their wrath, and, hurling from his position 
the governor who has abused his trust, and casting away the 
cords which bound them, may start, de zovo, with a clean 
bill of health and a hopeful future before them; whereas the 
stomach may discover at the time of its revolt that the 
mischief which has been worked is irremediable, and that no 
line of conduct, based upon however good policy, may avail 
to rectify its condition. 
It is manifest that this organ must possess a marvel- 
lous power of adapting itself to circumstances; it will 
undergo for many years the greatest abuse, and respond 
to calls of outrageous taxation upon its resources, it 
may have strangers forced upon it who are altogether 
unfitted to come into contact with it, and to get rid of 
whom may involve considerable difficulty and heart- 
burning ; yet it is expected that they will meet with the 
treatment accorded to old and long-tried friends, with whom 
meetings and partings have taken place with mutual good- 
will and comfort. Even under these untoward circum- 
stances it will often bear its grievances uncomplainingly, 
and, although it does not welcome such visitors, will do its 
utmost to behave gently and dispose of them without any 
unseemly exhibition of disgust. Again, how capricious is 
the government of the stomachic region! there are no fixed 
laws for it to depend upon, no guarantee against unwar- 
rantable intrusion, no security that its labour will be duly 
apportioned to its strength, no certainty that after hard 
work it will be allowed the repose it has so richly earned. 
Sometimes, when it is full of a disposition to act, it is left 
idle ; sometimes, when languid and unable to endure fatigue, 
excessive demands are made upon its powers, and not un- | 
frequently, when half asleep, a heavy task is set it which it 
will strive to accomplish, but, breaking down in its en- 
deavour, who can wonder if revolt ensue, and if friends and 
foes alike who may be sojourning within it are indiscrimi- 
nately expelled ? To whom can the overburdened groaning 
stomach look to for protection, or turn to for redress? Its 
natural governor should be the head, yet how seldom in 
these days do we find that its rule is influenced by con- 
siderations of wise and unselfish policy! Why, not only 
does it neglect to legislate well, but in addition, will often 
by its own unreasonable acts increase the difficulties and 
