tomy and physiology of these organs, on which it is unnecessary for us to remark, as there is nothing materially different from the best writers on the same subject. On some occasions, however, Dr. R. seems disposed to provoke criticism, as when he asserts that the operation of many medicines is confined to the stomach alone; which opinion he supports by instancing the effects of diffusive stimulants only.

"I believe," he says, "there is a certain definite quantity of nervous fluid, or nervous energy, which every constitution is capable of supplying; this, in the natural state of the animal body, is regularly diffused throughout every part, in a degree proportionate to the functions which that part has to perform.

"Wherever, therefore, there is any preternatural accumulation of this fluid, though that part is capable of extraordinary exertions, the rest of the system is impaired. Observation confirms this remark, for those who have at a very early period of life evinced uncommon powers of understanding, have generally suf fered from epileptic fits, or died prematurely.

1

"As instances of this may be mentioned, Mozart, the late amiable Kirk White, Mr. Gilpin's son, and many others.

"Hence there is some foundation for a common popular expression, that a child is too clever to live; this being, like most other proverbs, founded on experience.

This principle will aid us very materially in explaining the peculiarities of disease, and especially the actions of the Stomach; for every thinking person must admit, that the operation of the vital principle must be resorted to, in order to explain the actions of a living body.

"This definite quantity of nervous energy in the system, and its irregular and preternatural determination to particular parts to the detriment of other organs, is one opinion which I am solicitous to maintain.

"Intense application of the mind, by diverting the energies from the stomach, render it less capable of action.

"A person may sit down to dinner in good health, and with an eager appetite, but the sudden reception of some distressing intelligence may instantly destroy the inclination for food, or occasion its being rejected if swallowed. To a certain degree, therefore, appetite may be regulated by reason.

"It deserves to be noticed, that this controul over the appetite is never met with but in persons of a strong constitution; and there is perhaps no better method of ascertaining the strength of the system, than by observing the effect of abstinence, and knowing how long it can be endured.

"Where habit has not thus gained an ascendancy over appetite, the sight of food occasions an immediate secretion of nervous fluid: hence the expression, the mouth waters, which is perceptibly realized in dogs, who discharge a considerable quantity of saliva when stimulated by the sight of food after long fasting.

"The

"The phænomena of extreme hunger do not very frequently present themselves to our view, and therefore I shall be excused for introducing here a very interesting narrative, that strikingly exemplifies the doctrine now laid down.

"I have talked," says the author, "with the captain of a ship, who was one of six that endured it in its extremity, and who was the only person that had not lost his senses when they received accidental relief."

"He assured me that his pains at first were so great, as to be often tempted to eat a part of one of the men who died, and which the rest of the crew actually for some time lived upon.

"He said, that during the continuance of this paroxysm, he found his pains insupportable, and was desirous at one time of anticipating that death which he thought inevitable, but his pains, he said, gradually decreased after the sixth day, (for they had water in the ship, which kept them alive so long) and then he was in a state rather of languor than desire; nor did he much wish for food, except when he saw others eating, and that for a while revived his appetite, though with diminished importunity. The latter part of the time, when his health was almost destroyed, a thousand strange images rose upon his mind, and every one of his senses began to bring him wrong information.

"Perfumes appeared to him to have a fœtid smell, and every thing he looked at had a greenish hue, and sometimes a yellow. When he was presented with food by the ship's company, who took him and his men up, four of whom died shortly after, he. could not help looking upon it with loathing instead of desire, and it was not till after some days that his stomach was brought to its natural tone, when the violence of his appetite returned with a sort of canine eagerness.

On the important subject of Digestion, Dr. R. appears to be solicitous to establish his own definition, viz.

"Digestion is that process, by which the vitality of the food is separated from the substance with which it is combined.

66

"In offering this definition, I am sensible that I lay myself open to animadversion; and if those who take upon them to examine, will combine candour with criticism, I can have no objection to the investigation of the opinion. Had I substituted the words nutritious principle for vitality, I should not have been amenable to censure; but the question relative to the nature of food, and its power of replenishing the exhausted strength of the system, would have remained unanswered, whilst the term I have now adopted, conveys some intelligible idea, and though not in its nature susceptible of experimental proof, furnishes a rational and satisfactory explanation of digestion and its effects.

"That all animals, possessing the power and exercising the functions

"Vide Goldsmith's History of the Earth, vol. ii. p. 116.

functions of muscular motion, are exhausted by fatigue, and re° quire to be renovated by food, is a fact too palpable to be denied ; and it is therefore only necessary to discover in what manner food is capable of imparting this vigour to the system.

"Now, as it is self-evident that what is lost must be restored, we are drawn into a confession either that the process of digestion is capable of forming, by a peculiar and unintelligible combination of matter, some substance capable of repairing the loss of strength and energy, or it acts by separating it from the materials subjected to its operation; and this last is he opinion I maintain." Although we can have no objection to this last expression, a peculiar and unintelligible combination of matter," as forming a part of the definition of digestion; yet we are unable to comprehend how any process can separate vitality from dead matter, which contains no vitality. As we think it fair in criticism to attempt substituting something less exceptionable than what is objected to, we would define digestion to be that process by which dead matter is converted into living nourishment. We agree with our author, that the process by which this is accomplished, may most probably be a peculiar and unintelligible combination of matter. The minute discussion of this single question would require a volume. The author concludes the subject of digestion in the following sum

mary.

"From what has been advanced, it is obvious that the appetite for food is a natural instinct which ought to be consulted rather than directed.

"It is an instinct which, independent of reason, teaches us what to renounce, and what to prefer; and we seldom eat what is pernicious, without feeling an inward conviction that the stomach does not approve it; hence this organ has been emphatically denoininated the Conscience of the Body.

"The first impression of putrid food is made on the sensorium through the medium of the olfactory nerves; and it is a curious circumstance, that in all animals the nose is placed in close proximity to the mouth, undoubtedly for the purpose of bringing the food under the examination of this sense.

"I have detailed these facts relative to digestion as illustrative of the truth of the position, that

Digestion is that process, by which the vitality of the food is separated from the substance with which it is combined.

"But as a variety of secretions are provided by nature for the completion of this important function, I now proceed to the consideration of their properties; and first, of the Saliva."

Besides the commonly acknowledged offices of the saliva in moistening the dry food during mastication, and aiding the process of digestion, our author assigns it another function, which is far from being generally acknowledged. This is the power which the salivary glands possess as excretory organs, capable of carry

ing

ing excrementitious and noxious matter out of the system. In confirmation of this opinion, Dr. R. gives the following facts.

"A lady whom I am well acquainted with, lay-in of her second child, and experienced no particular difficulty in her labour; she is of a delicate constitution, and had been subject, on slight irregularities, to a discharge of the fluor albus.

"For two or three days after her confinement she continued very well, and had a free discharge of the lochia. She was recommended to take bark and other astringents, but whether from these, or what is more probable, from accidentally taking cold, the lochia was suddenly checked, the head became affected with stupor and giddiness, and the face swelled.

"This was presently followed by a very copious salivation, which continued for several days. Opening medicines were now recommended, and relaxants at night; the lochia was thus brought on, and salivation immediately disappeared.

"A young man consulted me a short time ago, whom I visited in company with Mr. Evans, Surgeon in Old Street; he said he had had a chancre on the penis six months before, and used mercury then for a few weeks only, but not to such a degree as to produce any sensible effect upon the mouth.

"On examining the inside of the fauces, a very general and deepseated ulceration was observable on the uvula and tonsil glands, and a profuse salivation to the amount of two quarts a day attended it, without the least mercury as he positively assured us, having been used since the above-mentioned period. As this gentleman's constitution appeared to be considerably enfeebled, and his habit scrophulous, we thought it adviseable to give him first a gentle emetic, and afterwards bark: we adopted this plan, but without effect, the spitting still continuing, and the ulceration extending its ravages. We now employed mercurial ointment in the usual manner, and after rubbing in on the thigh two drachms of mercurial ointment for three nights, the spitting considerably diminished, and the ulceration rapidly healed; after this time the spitting con tinued in such a moderate degree as might naturally be expected to arise from the ointment itself.

"From these and many similar cases which occasionally occur we may conclude, that the saliva frequently becomes an excremen titious fluid, conveying something out of the body which would prove noxious if it were retained; and thus we may on some occasions recommend the smoaking of tobacco."

The offices of the Bile are more numerous and apparently more important than those of the saliva. Its being secreted from venous, blood instead of arterial, would induce us to admit, that it is in a certain degree an excrementitious fluid. That it contributes by its action on the intestines, to promote the expulsion of the fæces out of the body,' appears to be generally acknowledged. But its of fice in promoting and perfecting the important process of digestion, and it being a principal cause of the sensation of hunger, (No. 139.)

S

are

are not so generally known or admitted. These two points Dr. R. is anxious to establish on a solid foundation, "and that from the defect, not the redundance of bile, the most pernicious consequences ensue, Iirust," he says, "I shall be able to prove to the satisfaction of those, whose understandings are not warped by prejudice.

I should be entering into the regions of theory, were I to attempt an explanation of the change which the blood undergoes previous to its entering the vena portarum; and as the doctrine I now propagate relative to the use of bile in digestion, is of itself liable to opposition, I think it prudent for the present to suppress what I conceive to be a feasible opinion on this head.

I proceed therefore to maintain, that the bi'e is an important agent in digestion; and to prove this, I may in the first place mention, that whenever the secretion of this fluid is diminished, the functions of the stomach and the process of digestion are deranged.

I shall adduce a Case, not from any remarkable peculiarities attending it, but merely as descriptive of my meaning: it is such as every medical practitioner must have frequently seen, and therefore more valuable as an illustration, since it enables me to convince the reader by a reference to his own experience.

M. D. aged 55, or thereabouts, complained of a short dry cough for several months, with entire loss of appetite for nearly the same period; the countenance looked somewhat emaciated, but had no particular sallowness; and the urine, though deficient in quantity, exhibited no morbid appearance.

"This patient (a female) was very much troubled with flatulence, and when I saw her was much distended by a dropsy of the abdomen, and anasarcous swelling of the legs; she had drank con-iderable quantities of spirituous liquors, and this had impaired the constitution.

"I omit, for the sake of brevity, the detail of the treatment, which did not of course prove successful; the woman died; her body was examined after death, and it was found that the whole substance of the liver was knotted and tubercular, extremely hard, and of a whitish colour; not the least bile was found, and no traces of a gall-bladder could be discovered. This is a peculiarity not commonly met with. The stomach was cut open and carefully examined, but presented no appearance of disease.

Here is one instance, then, of impaired appetite from defective bile; in this case the whole substance of the liver was so completely indurated, that nothing like bile could be formed, and this probably was the reason that the countenance exhibited no jaundiced appearance.

Whenever we perceive jaundice in the skin, or in the eyes, when the yellow colour is very predominant, we may be assured the liver is capable of forming bile, and that it has been first formed, and then absorbed; it accords with my experience there

fore