Reasonable as this inference appears from the facts stated by Dr Beaumont, I cannot help thinking that there is something more in the constitution of the stomach than the mere deficiency of gastric juice, which renders the too early intrusion of new food hurtful. We know, for example, that, at the commencement of digestion, the muscular contractions of the stomach are comparatively slow and feeble, and that as chymification advances they become rapid and energetic, as if to remove the chyme as fast as it is formed. If then new food, for which the feebler movement is best adapted, be introduced when digestion is far advanced and the energetic motion going on, may not this disproportion be itself an impediment, and co-operate with the deficiency of the gastric juice in disordering digestion? Moreover, as the stomach, in common with every other organ intended for alternate activity and repose, is always more or less fatigued by the active fulfilment of its function, its premature excitement by new food must add to its exhaustion, and weaken its power (in the same way in which fresh muscular exertion adds to the exhaustion of muscles already sufficiently exercised), and consequently lead to imperfect digestion. The same principle which explains the necessity of repose for repairing the vascular and nervous energy of the stomach, when these have been excited and exhausted by the labour of digestion, also affords a solution of the question why the appetite does not return as soon as the stomach is empty, but begins to be felt only after the latter has enjoyed a period of repose, varying in duration with the mode of life, the state of health, and the nature of the previous meal.