Miscellanea Curiosa, Vol. 1: Containing a collection of some of the principal phaenomena in nature, accounted for by the greatest philosophers of this age
History
Miscellanea Curiosa, Vol. 1: Containing a collection of some of the principal phaenomena in nature, accounted for by the greatest philosophers of this age
Natural history; Science -- Early works to 1800; Voyages and travels -- Early works to 1800
There are others that make the Stomach itself to be the great Instrument
of Digestion, but in a different manner: And they suppose it to be
perform'd by an Attrition, as if the Stomach, by those repeated Motions,
which are the necessary Effects of Respiration, when it is distended by
the Aliment, did both rub or grind off some minuter Particles from the
grosser Parts; and by continually agitating the Mass of Food, make those
Parts, which are not contiguous to the Stomach, strike one against
another, and break one another in pieces, until they are all attenuated.
It is evident enough, that the sides of the Stomach do in Expiration
press upon the _Contenta_, so as to oblige, at least some Parts of them,
every time the Muscles of the Abdomen are contracted, to move and shift
their places. So in Inspiration, when the Diaphragm and Liver press upon
the upper part of the Stomach, the Aliment must be moved again. So that
by these reciprocal Motions, that part of the Food which is contiguous
to the Stomach, and moves in a Line parallel to it, must rub against it;
and all the other Parts being moved by such a Compression, as gives them
a different Tendency, it is certain they must be continually striking
one against another. And for Bread, and such things as are made of
Flower, that will be softned and dissolv'd with any common Liquid, that
Agitation of the Stomach which moves them in Respiration, might seem
sufficient to break and dissolve them, when they are sufficiently
moisten'd with a Fluid. Yet this cannot be thought enough to break and
digest Flesh-meat, Fruits, or any other thing that will not be softned
and dissolv'd in Water, or some such Liquid. But although this Motion of
the Aliment, caused by Respiration, does not actually digest it, yet it
has a great and necessary Use in Concoction, and makes all the grosser
Parts, as they are attenuated, mix equally with the Fluid.
Some think that the Bilious Juice; others, that the Spirits are chiefly
concern'd in this Affair. _Galen_, in his Book _de Neutralibus
Facultatibus_, makes it to be the Effect, not of one, but of several
Causes; as a pituitous Juice in the Stomach, the Bile, _&c._ which
appears from what he has said, and the Translator thus render'd: '_Verum
quanto ii (cibi) qui mansi sunt, iis, qui inhæserunt, magis sunt
alterati; tanto etiam his magis ii, qui devorati sunt. Siquidem
incomparabilis erit horum alterationis excessus, si & quæ in ventre est
Pituita & Bilis, & Spiritus, & Calor, & tota Ventris substantia,
æstimentur._'
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