The Iowa transcript. (Toledo, Tama County, Iowa) 1858-1866, 1860-12-27

Il
THE FooD is POURED INTO THE BLOOD
AND CARRIED OVER THE SYSTEM.
.sGood morning, Charles. Good
morning, John. To-day we are to take
a glance into our own st6inachs, are
we?'
"Y5ii don't mean literally, I suppose.
but BY some mysterious scientific inves-
! tigation."
1T has been done literally, in one case
at least However, let me tell you first
what is known about the movements OF
the food after it passes into the body,
and then perhaps | can give you some
idea Of the mode id which the facts
have been learned. The sto'nsch Is L
bag lying pretty nearly across the mid
die of the body, i little to the left, Of a
size sufficient to hold about quart
As the food is swallowed it passes
through long, flexible, moist tube
called the esophagus, and falls into the
stomach. The presence of food in the
stomach stimulates Vie gastric glands
. to secrete the gastric juice. These
glands arc situated in the inner coating
of the stomach; they sre very nImerons
and exceedingly small. TIA gastric
Juice which they sccrete partially ais
solves the food, converting it into a
semihuid mass, called chyme. In order
to mix the gastric juice thoroughly with
the food, the stomach has IN instinct
i've movement which carries its contents
along its greater curve and returns theni
by the lesser, mixing them by churn-
ing motion, occupying about three min
utcs in each revolution. Thus the food
is frequently presented to the passage
from the stomach into the duodenum,
aud by one of the most wonderful of all
the mysterious adjustments that we find
in the operation Of the humad system,
as sDon as any portion ofthe food which
5 thoroughly digcstcd presents itself to
this passage, the passage opens ard al
lows the :hjinc to flow ont into the dn-
odenum Wien food not perfectly di
gested is presented, the passage refuses
toes,,ep, and thus the food is retained
in the stomach un,::l all Of it that sahbe
into ci,,me Is 50 converted.
After indigestiblc mater aas oeen pre-
,entea several times to tn. ,,yloric orr
flee and returned to the storl'a ''' 'hc
passage finally opens, and all the COZ"
tents Of the stomach flow out into tie
duodcnum." s4fl
s'lI0w does this passage know wheth-
er the food il digested or not ?"
s'qAat is another of those questions
which it is easy to ask bat impossible
to answer. Nobody knows"
"Well, how do they know that these
motions do take place p
ssSomc years ago soldier in Canada
was wounded in the stomach with a
bayonet, and when the wound healed,
It left an opening into his stomach by
which persons could look in and see
the operations Of digestion going on.-
Dr.. Beaumont, Of st. Louis, took this
soldier, ST. Martin, under his care, and
made long series Of Investigations of
the process Of digestion. He had lit
tie silver ladlc made, and used to dip
out the gastric juice and try its action
on meat and other substances outside
Of the body. But with this wonderful
opportunity he did not discover much
which had not been previously known,
4 fact which proves, in very striking
the thoroughness Of the phys
Investigations which had bcsn
made before" -4t ti.a
i eve will believe. yotir statements,
then. What takes place next -
s.Thc proper way is to receive the
OrcSCnJ COnCIUSlOIlS VI SClSHOC tell y0N
acquire sufficient knowledge Of the sub
icct to test them for yourselves You
will find that it will take very careful
and laborious experiments to disturb
these conclusioEs. After the chyme
has passed into. the duodenuin, it is
mixed with two other fluids, which dis
sol.c It further, and convert It into
milky liquid called chy!c. These two
fluids that mix with the chyme are the
bile, which is secreted by the liver, and
the pancreatic Juice, which is formed
BY the panclc.s. From the duodcnum
the chyle, mixed with the waste, indi,
rcstiblc portions Of the food, passes on
through the jejunum into the small rin-
testiues, which, in man, are about Is
se2 FsE ta@f'F1 9Nf 2alias yes
,!s;aH s'aesr0