Litchfield enquirer., 1857-09-10

the amount of secretion from either, depends upor | the quantity and quality of blood distributed tt them and so of the colon the amout of secretion from its mucus membrane, that is the quantity of feces that is deposited in the bowels depends upor the quantity of blood distributed to that mem bane The books, am aware teach very different doc Urine, but because Dr. this one Dr. that one says so in his book, is of its being true Other Doctors in their books say differently, and when Doctors disagree, who shall decide9 The books say and It IS the generally received opinion among the profession that after the food passes into the sto mach, 1t Is by the muscular action of the stomach rolled and tumbled about until it becomes soft homogeneous s. and then it is passed forward n- to the upper portion of the bowels, called the duo denum, where portion part is extracted or sepa- rated for purposes of nutrition, called chae and which is taken up by the small tubular vessels call eI lGctaes and carried into the circulation for the purposes of nourishing the body the other portion becoming useless. after the chile is extracted from it, it is sent forward through the bowels and ex- pelle'. Now instead of part only of this mass be- ling prepared and taken into the circulation the
 ehole of it is in health taken up. Now let us see about this-let Us if part only is taken and carried into the circulation. How much in weight does person in health eat at meal! Say two poHndS-thrce meals a day. would make six pounds that he hes taken into his stomach. Now accord
 ing to the books, part of this say onehalf iS ta- ken up and carried into the circulation the other
 half then, according to our calculation. would be one pound left in the bowels after each meal or three pounds a day. 10 calflou 1OrWarQ the lower portion Of the bowels Now bear in mind, that there is each day three pounds of drosS or re- sldum of tEe food that is not needed for the nutr
 ton of the body and is carried through the bow els to be expelled. Now suppose this man happened to be troubled with constipation of the bUwc 5 a:Id should have discharge from the bowels for one week very frequent occurrence w tn dyspcpticS ind others troubled with Constipation. l have known persons to go three weeks without having any opc ration from the bowels, and there are cases xyl,, ,tc two, without having had stool. Now, at the end of one week this nstipated patient would, according to our calculation, be carrying about him. in his bow els Fl polnls of fccal mattcr-at the end of two weeks he wcud be carrying about him 42 pounds at the end of three weeks C3 pouuisand in the case of those l have alluded to as going six and twelve months without stool, one would carry 3i6 pounds, ,ud tine other lO92 pounds. What an absurd idea, that person could carry about with him thousand pounds or the half of it of ccal matter. 63 or F. or the 2l pounds Suppose the patient at the end of the first Wee k, who is supposed to have Fl pounds ill store. is wei 5hed, how much more will he actually weigh will he weigh T moro, No. Will | he weigh the half of it, or , pounds or l pound No; not one half ounce more and the great proba bility is that :e will not even weigh much he did the week previous. What has become Of the Fl pounds If refuse natter That question much easier asked, than answered, if stick to the old doctrine as laid down in the h oks. I'll tell ycu what has become of it: the whole of the food taken up and carried, into the circulation, and a a good portion has passed through the bladder in form of urine, and through the pores of the skin in the form of inscnsihle perspirlton.
 1t has under the observation of almost every one that patient lAboriny under acute disease, where solid food h;ls been taken for weeks, yet the stools well t'.rmcd and cclious as ever; and in fact this same patient may have, at the com menccmclit of his disease taken Stiong and purga tive medicine. which expelled every particle of fccll matter, and before taking any nouri>hment with the exception perhaps of little tea he i.,s had other stools almost copious and of much consistence as the inst. This, oi course, could not have been the residium of the food, for the patient had taken non.. Patients with lock jaw where it was an i'm possibility for them to take anything for days anl week> ill the shape of n"urshment except liquid, and that of the tnnest kind, yet have daily evacu aion of the usual consstcncc Patients suffering from cancer in the nouth that prctluutd tine possi hiiiiy of taking any kind of nouTishncnt by the mouth, have been noursh,d and kept alive hy enc mas vet they have stools of more less conscience. | Where could this tccal matter irolnccrainlv not from the food
 Again, pt rs"ns subject 10 Cons ipatlnn generally have good, and metmes enormous apretites. and large antiteS, yet have movement of the bowels very seldom, and then very small in quantity. II be ieiuhed m the bowels. of h.re would be pro
 uberance there, gIvng evldence that there was Glan 1 ty of matter lodged there but the contrary,
 tead of there beng any pr,tuberancc here conSt,pa ted rcfsohs always have cNceedngly flat tl!es; aud m"r"vtr II there Was qnanuIv Of matter lodged there, lhe pa,leut w"nld weeh more but he dues weigh or ha ounce mJre tlan he did al tue last movement of his b 'wt's.
 | As arsnu, n against ,is doctrine, it he said, that part cles {" "d seeds skins Of dried rul., cherry so:es. &r., are unl m the s'ooIs. This however, Is no argument against il, to they found there e. ther because they escape the action of 'ie gastrc imce, il was in DOS lhle for the gastric juice To ti sotve th III. u n man swallow ball. 1 would not expect il To be ds>o we'd hy the gastric juice prepared by the stomach for is reception into the cir rulaon. It person swallow pcnEv or cherry stone, it hound g' through them, for the gas'rrc juice wiIl not dissolve It.
 Now. what l c"ncelve te about he right view of ths who'e matter IS thls-rhe noh, nd the wrolc nt | by the Inu acton and the Jnces of the so- mach cunv' red inlo soft homogeneous mass, and then s>cd along mo he upper bowels cate the .uode,un, lle sdes ot winch a orta, number o' hl'le or :es wn'ch are months |" smaller els or inb called lariars whose office II is tn akt un this toud called oh le, and carry II along and discharge II n'io large vcu and by wh h Is earned To tue hear; from the heart forced into ,he lungs when, by coming contact with the atmosphere, il is con v.rted mo good healthy red blood, and now it ihn' not prevousy) for the purpose o nutrition. It BOW beng made lno good red b ooi, Is hrou.m back by large To the h. again. from whence Il pre''d lno the large arteries ana d'Srou'ea "ever, portion Il, the s,s m. The blood passing on through th nreres IS receved mo quo her set of vessels ot lhe " snal s chbre called rap'i arv vessels, and wlch ln every tissue oi the body. and that the polnt oi small needle cannot enter the skin Wl'huu, perclnG them.
 Now these minute vessels the great functions of intuition anu se' f,ton are catred on or, Tn other words, the d. p,stng o ali the s"ltjs. such bune s,new muscle, naS, &c. this nutrition, hle the d. posting "i the l9udS, sirh as b'e gastric Jhre, iva, &", IS called secre,n Every particle "t the and liquids o lie body separated and de- pos tied the ood by lh. small vessels but bear m mnd tLe d po>s made onty Tor shor tune. As almost every ohe IS aWare there lS a con slant change going on m the systCm-uJ sodS are beius Er.kcn down aId taken away and new deposi
 ted III lh, 1T place. N 6 have already seen how new matter IS deposited. Now q" matter, after II has be
 come the for wear bec"n, $ broken down, orn usel and II must n some way be revlvlh.d, e". hvened, made again. The commencem' nt ot this work accomplished by vessels called absorbent vessels. By ih, old matter, after II Is broken down and requ lied, taken up and passed along into the venS by which Is earned the heart, and from tie heart, thrown h" lungs, and thus by contact with the atmosphere It becom rd o lls carb acd, receives fresh supply o oxygen, IS re. v,v,ied made again, and IS brought back 10 the hear and is ready 10 be sent throughout the en- sy stem be deposited again. Thus wtI be seen that bone, muscle, mucus bile, saliva, &c., Is deposit ed Giated, and redeposlted agan and aeaIn
 Fms oi good portion ot each, but not all, 10 there portion oi ca ch alter has been taken u' by the absorbent vessels, that cannot be rev'vIhed-