57 A layer of connective tissue between the mucous membrane and the muscular coat is usually referred to as the _submucous_ coat. This contains numerous blood vessels and nerves and binds the muscular coat to the mucous membrane. 58 The saliva may continue to act for a considerable time after the food enters the stomach. "Careful examination of the contents of the fundus (large end of the stomach) by Cannon and Day has shown that no inconsiderable amount of salivary digestion occurs in the stomach."—FISCHER, _The Physiology of Alimentation_. 59 Perhaps the simplest method of inducing vomiting is that of thrusting a finger down the throat. To make this method effective the finger should be held in the throat until the vomiting begins. An emetic, such as a glass of lukewarm salt water containing a teaspoonful of mustard, should also be taken, and, in the case of having swallowed poison, the vomiting should be repeated several times. It may even be advantageous to drink water and then vomit it up in order to wash out the stomach. 60 Hammerstein, _Text-book of Physiological Chemistry._ 61 Amylopsin is absent from the pancreatic juice of infants, a condition which shows that milk and not starch is their natural food. 62 The fact that butter is more easily digested than other fatty substances is probably due to its consisting largely of a kind of fat which, on splitting, forms a fatty acid (butyric) which is soluble in water. 63 Fischer, _Physiology of Alimentation._ 64 Beginning the meal with a little soup, as is frequently done, may be of slight advantage in stimulating the digestive glands. To serve this purpose, however, and not interfere with the meal proper, it should contain little greasy or starchy material and should be taken in small amount. 65 Dr. William Beaumont, an American surgeon of the last century, made a series of observations upon a human stomach (that of Alexis St. Martin) having an artificial opening, the result of a gunshot wound. Much of our knowledge of the digestion of different foods was obtained through these observations. In spite of the protests of his physician, St. Martin would occasionally indulge in strong drink and always with the same result—the lining of the stomach became much inflamed and very sensitive, and the natural processes of digestion were temporarily suspended. 66 The lacteals (from the Latin _lacteus_, milky) are so called on account of their appearance, which is white, or milk-like, due to the fat droplets. 67 Peptones and proteoses, when injected directly into the blood, are found to act as poisons.