The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1877-02-17
PHENOMENA OF DIGESTION.


Just now medical men in Paris are busy
discussing a curious case which has come
under the observation of the learned DIR.
Nerneuil. The doctor had lad brought
to him for treatment at the Hospital de la
Petite, who had swallowed by accident a
dose of caustic potash The terrible escha-
rOtic produced SO tight construction in
the gullet that no food would pass down
into the stomach. Death from inanition
must have been the result had not Dir. Vec-
neuil courageously resolved to perform the
dreadful operation known as gastrotomy.
On the Goth of July, accordingly, he cut
into the lads stomach and inserted into it
an elastic tube through which food could
be injected. In this way soup, finely
chopped meat, mashed vegetables aud
drink were administered. On the 10Th of
September the young man recovered his
health and spirits. He was able to go
about and help the servants in the hospi-
tai, and seemed to have as much life and
energy as he had before the accident. Be
tween the 18th of August and the 14th of
September he gained ten pounds in weight,
while being fed through the hole in his
stomach. Of course this case must have a
rare interest for all students OF the complex
phenomena OF digestion. and it cannot but
recall a still stranger one, which, nearly
forty years ago, DR.. Beaumont, Cana
dian, had the good fortune to observe.
His patient enabled Psychologists, in fact,
to formulate all our existing knowledge of
the processes of stomachal digestion. He
was one Alex St. Martin by name, and
luckily for science, he had hole made in
his stomach through the sudden discharge
of gun. Dr. Beaumont cured him SO
that he recovered his health; but though
the wound healed, the opening remained,
and through it DR.. Beaumont was able to
see the workings of a living human stom-
ach in nearly all conceivable circumstances
Another case of the same sort-that of
an Ethiopian woman-came under the Oh
servation of DIS. Gruwaldt and Schroeder
y
know how Blondolt and others artificialy
produced the same condition in dogs, and
thereby gained a certain insight into the
behavior of food i'll the veutral alembc OF
the tissues. 1t was found, for example,
that in the fasting state the walls of the
stomach appeared pale and tlabby, and lay
close together, whereupon some people
enormously concluded that the sensation
of hunger was due to the rubbing of the
coats of the stomach on each other. 1t is
noted that whatever food was introduced
the sides of the cavity redeemed with the
stimulated circulation, and its muscular
said, from observations made on Alex St.
Martin, the chewed food was churned in
the stomach and carried round and round
the course of its curvantures. In this way
it was trituIed and solvent action of the
gastric juice which acted on the arbumin.
Gus and gelatinous substance swallow ed,
until gradually a milky fluid, known as
chyme, was elaborated. Thus was it found
out that we take usually about four hours
to digest dinner; and it was also diScov
cred that different kinds of food vary much
in their igestiblity-notable for example,
that fat and oil take a long time to digest
when introduced into the stomach alone,
but are much more speedily got rid of by
that organ if eaten with said or vegetable
matters.
OF all the curious facts observed by stu
dents of the phenomena of digestion, how
ever, none was stranger than the extent to
which emotions were seen to effect the opera
tons of the stomach. Mental eXertionS.
pure and simple did not seem to retard
digestion SO much as had been conjectured.
Yet when associated with deep emotions,
or with that fretfuness of mind we call
IVORY" it appeared to have baneful
Influence. AS for the fiercer passions, an
outbr eak of them would suffice to prevent
the stomach, even when most vigorous, from
dlscharging It's functions. Another mys
FERROUS phenomena noticed in connection
with digestion was the sympathetic intlu.
secretions of the mouth. This secretion,
as is well known, has an important chemi
cal action on certain constituents of food,
changing, by sort of fermenting pro
cess, starchy matters for instance into
sugar.
In DR.. Vernueil's case, whenever food
was Injected into the stomach Of his pa
tent g a flow of saliva in his mouth is pro
duced, in the election of which a motion
curiously resembling chewing is remarked
In short the different parts of the digestive
apparatus are so linked together by nerv
GUS connection that they "sympatize " with
each other and if one is stimulated the rest
are also excited. But. as might be ex
pected, there is no connection apparent be
tween the nervous system of the stomach
and the nerves of taste, for it is related in
DR.. Nernuei's patient, that when food is
put into his stomach. although his mouth is
filled with saliva, he feels no sense of flavor
in the substance with which he is fed. He
is only aware if they be hot or cold, and
indeed no anchorite could be in state of
more philosophic Indifference to the choic
est pleasures of the table.
BAXlER'S LOSS AND GAIN.
He was Granger fresh from the wilds
r., T. I, I