It is obvious, however, that the great afflux of blood which takes place towards the stomach and intestines during digestion, cannot occur without a corresponding diminution in the quantity circulating on the surface and in other distant parts of the body, attended of course with a diminished power of action in them. Hence, for some time after a full meal, there is an inaptitude for vigorous thinking and bodily exertion, a depression of respiration, and, in delicate persons, a degree of coldness or chill felt over the whole body. But, under ordinary circumstances, this depression is not of long continuance. After the requisite secretions have been provided for the solution of the food and the formation of the chyle, a reaction and change in the distribution of the blood, now partially renewed by the admixture of nutritive chyle, ensue, and, by the stimulus which they afford, soon fit the person for the active resumption of his ordinary duties. That this impaired activity of the other functions after a full meal is natural, and intentionally arranged by the Creator, is plain, both from its universality among all kinds of animals, and from the mode in which it is produced. Among the lower creatures, the sluggishness induced by eating increases in proportion to the degree in which they gorge themselves with food. The boa constrictor, after a plentiful repast, slumbers for a week; and the glutton of our own species, in similar circumstances, drops into a stertorous sleep of several hours. If active exertion immediately after a full meal be rendered compulsory by any external cause, such as the presence of danger urging to flight, the aliment often remains for hours in the stomach undigested. Again, the very distention of the stomach inseparable from a hearty meal, _necessarily_ impairs the activity of several of the functions, by directly pressing upon the vessels which supply their organs with blood, and consequently diminishing the stimulus essential to their activity.