20. Secondly, the saliva being largely the medium of the sense of taste, the natural flavors of the food are not developed, and consequently it appears comparatively insipid. Hence the desire for high-seasoned food, and pungent sauces, that both deprave the taste and over excite the digestive organs. Rapid eating also permits the entrance of injurious substances which may escape detection by the taste, and be unconsciously received into the system. In some instances, the most acrid and poisonous substances have frequently been swallowed "by mistake," before the sense of taste could act, and demand their rejection. [Sidenote: 21. Effect of imperfectly broken food in the stomach? Dyspepsia? Overeating?] 21. Thirdly, the food, being imperfectly broken up by the teeth, is hurried onward to the stomach, to be by it more thoroughly divided. But the task thus imposed upon the stomach, it is not at all adapted to perform; so that the crude masses of food remain a heavy burden within the stomach, and a source of distress to that organ, retarding the performance of its legitimate duty. Hence persons who habitually eat too rapidly, frequently fall victims to dyspepsia. Rapid eating also conduces to overeating. The food is introduced so rapidly, that the system has not {90} time to recognize that its real wants are met, and that its losses have been made good; and hence the appetite continues, although more nutriment has been swallowed than the system requires, or can healthfully appropriate. [Illustration: FIG. 22.--SECTION OF CHEST AND ABDOMEN. A, Heart. B, The Lungs. C, Stomach. D, The Liver. E, Large Intestine. G, Small Intestine.] [Sidenote: 22. Gullet? Describe the stomach and its location. Effects of gormandizing?] 22. THE STOMACH.--As soon as each separate portion of food is masticated and insalivated, it is swallowed; that is, it is propelled downward to the stomach, through a narrow muscular tube about nine inches in length, called the _oesophagus_, or gullet (Fig. 23). The stomach is the only large expansion of the digestive canal, and is the most important organ of digestion. It is a hollow, pear-shaped pouch, having a capacity of three pints, in the adult. Its walls are thin and yielding, and may become unnaturally distended, as in the case of those who subsist on a bulky, innutritious diet, and of those who habitually gormandize. [Sidenote: 23. Heart-orifice? Gatekeeper? Coins, etc.? Indication of the soft and yielding texture of the stomach?]