Popular Lectures on Zoonomia Part 5

The food of animals is derived from the animal or vegetable kingdoms.

There are some animals which eat only vegetables, while others live only on animal substances. The number and form of the teeth, and the structure of the stomach, and bowels, determine whether an animal be herbivorous, or carnivorous. The first cla.s.s have a considerable number of grinders, or dentes molares; and the intestines are much more long and bulky; in the second cla.s.s, the cutting teeth are predominant, and the intestines are much shorter.

Man seems to form an intermediate link between these two cla.s.ses: his teeth, and the structure of the intestines, show, that he may subsist both on vegetable and animal food; and, in fact, he is best nourished by a proper mixture of both. This appears from those people who live solely on vegetables, as the Gentoo tribes, and those who subsist solely on animals, as the fish eaters of the northern lat.i.tudes, being a feebler generation than those of this country, who exist on a proper mixture of both. A due proportion, therefore, of the two kinds of nourishment, seems undoubtedly the best.

Having taken a general view of the course of the aliment into the blood, I shall now examine more particularly, how each part of the organs concerned in digestion, or connected with that function, contributes to that end.

The food being received into the mouth, undergoes various preparations, which fit it for those changes it is afterwards to undergo. By the teeth the parts of it are divided and ground, softened and liquified by the saliva, and properly compressed by the action of the tongue and mastication.

The mouth, in most animals, is armed with very hard substances, which, by the motion of the lower jaw, are brought strongly into contact. Those parts of the teeth which are above the sockets, are not simply bony, they are much harder than the bones, and possess the property of resisting putrefaction, as long as this hard crust continues to cover them. The teeth are divided into three cla.s.ses: 1st. The cutting teeth, which are sharp and thin, and which serve to cut or divide the food: 2nd. The canine teeth, which serve to tear it into pieces still smaller: 3rd. The grinders, which present large and uneven surfaces, and actually grind the substance already broken down by the other teeth. Birds, whom nature has deprived of teeth, have a strong muscular stomach, called the gizzard, which serves the purposes of teeth, and they even take into the stomach small pieces of grit, to a.s.sist in grinding to a powder the grain that they have swallowed.

Among those parts of the mouth which contribute to the preparation of the food, we must reckon the numerous glands which secrete saliva, and which have therefore been called salivary glands. The saliva is a saponaceous liquor, dest.i.tute of taste or smell, which is squeezed out from these glands, and mixed with the food during mastication. In the mouth, therefore, the food becomes first broken down by the teeth, impregnated with saliva, and reduced to a soft pasty substance, capable of pa.s.sing with these, through the oesophagus, into the stomach. It is here that it undergoes the change, which is particularly termed digestion.

Digestion comprehends two cla.s.ses of phenomena, distinct from each other: 1st. Physical and chemical: 2nd. Organic and vital. The object of the first, is to bring the alimentary substances to such a state as is necessary, that they may be capable of the new combinations into which they are to enter, to obtain the animal character. The object of the second is, to produce those combinations which some have thought to be very different from those produced by simple chemical attractions.

The physical and chemical phenomena of digestion, relate chiefly, 1st. To the action of heat; 2ndly. To the dissolution of the alimentary substances. The heat of the animal is such, as is well fitted to promote solution.

That digestion is performed by solution, is evident, from several experiments, particularly those made by Dr. Stevens, who enclosed different alimentary substances in hollow spheres of silver, pierced with small holes. These were swallowed, and after remaining some time in the stomach, the contents were found dissolved. The great agent of solution is the gastric juice, which possesses a very strong solvent power. This juice is secreted by the arteries of the stomach; it may be collected in considerable quant.i.ty, by causing an animal that has been fasting for some time, to swallow small hollow spheres, or tubes of metal filled with sponge.

This liquid does not act indiscriminately upon all substances; for if grains of corn be put into a perforated tube, and a granivorous bird be made to swallow it, the corn will remain the usual time in the stomach without alteration; whereas if the husk of the grain be previously taken off, the whole of it will be dissolved. There are many substances likewise which pa.s.s unaltered through the intestines of animals, and consequently are not acted upon by the gastric juice.

This is the case frequently with grains of oats, when they have been swallowed by horses entire, with their husks on. This is the case likewise with the seeds of apples and other fruits, when swallowed entire by man; yet if these substances have been previously ground by the teeth, they will be digested. It would appear therefore, that it is chiefly the husk or outside of these substances which resists the action of the gastric juice.

This juice is not the same in all animals; for many animals cannot digest the food on which others live. Thus sheep live wholly on vegetables, and if they are made to feed on animals, their stomachs will not digest them: others again, as the eagle, feed wholly on animal substances, and cannot digest vegetables.

The accounts of the experiments made on gastric juice are very various: sometimes it has been found of an acid nature, at other times not. The experiments of Spallanzani show, however, that this acidity is not owing to the gastric juice, but to the food. The result of his experiments, which have been very numerous, prove, that the gastric juice is naturally neither acid nor alkaline. No conclusion, however, can be drawn from these experiments made out of the stomach, with respect to the nature of the gastric juice; nor do the a.n.a.lyses which have been made of it throw any light on its mode of action. But, from the experiments which have been made on digestion, in the stomach, particularly by Spallanzani, the following facts have been established.

The gastric juice attacks the surfaces of bodies, and combines chemically with their particles. It operates with more energy and rapidity, the more the food is divided, and its action increased by a warm temperature. By the action of digestion, the food is not merely reduced to very minute parts, but its chemical properties become changed; its sensible properties are destroyed, and it acquires new and very different ones. This juice does not act as a ferment; so far from it, it is a powerful antiseptic, and even restores flesh which is already putrid.

When the alimentary substances have continued a sufficient time in the stomach, they are pushed into the intestines, where they become mixed with the bile and pancreatic juice, as was before observed.

What changes are caused by these substances, we have yet to learn; but there is no doubt, that they serve some important purposes. By the peristaltic motion of the bowels, the alimentary matters thus changed are carried along, and applied to the mouths of the lacteal vessels, which open into the intestines, like a sponge, and by some power, not well understood, absorb that part which is fitted for a.s.similation, while the remainder is rejected as an excrement.

The lacteal vessels are furnished with valves, which allow a free pa.s.sage to the chyle from the intestines, but prevent its return. The most inexplicable thing in this operation, is the power which these vessels possess of selecting from the intestinal ma.s.s, those substances which are proper for nutrition, and rejecting those which are not.

These lacteal vessels, as was before observed, pa.s.s through the mesentery, and their contents seem to undergo some important change in the mesenteric glands. The chyle which pa.s.ses through vessels, appears to be an oily liquor, less animalised than milk, and its particles seem to be held in solution by the intermedium of a mucilaginous principle. It is conveyed along the thoracic duct in the manner already described, and enters the blood slowly, and, as it were, drop by drop, by the subclavian vein; in this way it becomes intimately mixed with the blood, and combining with oxygen in the lungs, it acquires a fibrous character, and becomes fit to nourish the body.

We have now seen how the process of digestion is performed, at least, so far as we are acquainted with it, and how its products are conveyed into the blood. But to what purposes the blood is employed, which is formed with so much care, we have yet to discover. It seems to answer two purposes. The parts of which the body is composed, namely, bones, muscles, ligaments, membranes, &c. are continually changing: in youth they are increasing in size and strength, and in mature age they are continually acting, and, consequently, continually liable to waste and decay. They are often exposed to accidents, which render them unfit for performing their various functions; and even when no such accidents happen, it seems necessary for the health of the system that they should be perpetually renewed.

Materials must therefore be provided for repairing, increasing, or renewing all the various organs of the body. The bones require phosphate of lime, and gelatine, the muscles fibrine, and the cartilages and membranes alb.u.men; and accordingly we find all these substances contained in the blood, from whence they are drawn, as from a storehouse, whenever they are wanted. The process by which these different parts of the blood become various parts of the body is called a.s.similation.

Over the nature of a.s.similation the thickest darkness still hangs; all that we know for certain is, that there are some conditions necessary to its action, without which it cannot take place. These are, 1. A sound and uninterrupted state of the nerves. 2. A sound state of the blood vessels. 3. A certain degree of tone or vigour in the vessels of the part.

There remains yet to be noticed another set of vessels, connected with the circulating and nutritive systems, called lymphatics. These vessels are very minute, and filled with a transparent fluid: they rise by open mouths in every cavity of the body, as well as from every part of the surface, and the course of those from the lower extremities, and indeed from most of the lower parts of the body, is towards the thoracic duct, which they enter at the same time with the lacteal vessels already described. They are furnished, like the lacteals, with numerous valves, which prevent their contents from returning towards their extremities.

The minute arteries in every part of the body exhale a colourless fluid, for lubricating the different parts, and other important purposes: and the lymphatic vessels absorb the superfluous quant.i.ty of this fluid, and convey it back to the blood.

It must be evident therefore, that, if the lymphatics in any cavity become debilitated, or by any other means be prevented from absorbing this exhaled fluid, an acc.u.mulation of it will take place: the same will happen, if the exhaling arteries be debilitated, so as to allow a greater quant.i.ty of fluid to escape than the absorbents can take up. When the balance between exhalation and absorption is destroyed, by either or both of these means, a dropsy will be the consequence.

Before we finish the subject of digestion, I shall take a short view of some of the morbid affections, attending this important function of the animal economy.

A deficiency of appet.i.te may arise, either from an affection of the stomach, or a morbid state of the body: for there is such a sympathy between the stomach and the rest of the system, that the first is very seldom disordered, without communicating more or less disorder to the system: nor can the system become deranged and the stomach remain sound.

A want of appet.i.te may arise from overloading the stomach, whereby its digestive powers will be weakened. And this may be occasioned in two ways. First, by taking food of the common quality in too great quant.i.ty, which will certainly weaken the powers of the stomach. An excellent rule, and one which if more attended to, would prevent the dreadful consequences of indigestion, is always to rise from the table with some remains of appet.i.te. This is a rule applicable to every const.i.tution, but particularly to the sedentary and debilitated.

The second way in which the stomach may be debilitated, is by taking food too highly stimulating or seasoned; and this even produces much worse effects than an over dose with respect to quant.i.ty. The tone of the stomach is destroyed, and a crude una.s.similated chyle is absorbed by the lacteals, and carried into the blood, contaminating its whole ma.s.s. Made dishes, enriched with hot sauces, stimulate infinitely more than plain food, and bring on diseases of the worst kind: such as gout, apoplexy, and paralysis. "For my part," says an elegant writer, "when I behold a fashionable table set out in all its magnificence, I fancy I see gouts, and dropsies, fevers, and lethargies, with other innumerable distempers, lying in ambuscade among the dishes."

All times of the day are not equally fitted for the reception of nourishment. That digestion may be well performed, the functions of the stomach and of the body must be in full vigour. The early part of the day therefore is the proper time for taking nutriment; and, in my opinion, the princ.i.p.al meal should not be taken after two or three o'clock, and there should always be a sufficient time between each meal to enable the stomach to digest its contents. I need not remark how very different this is from the common practice of jumbling two or three meals together, and at a time of the day likewise when the system is overloaded. The breakfast at sunrise, the noontide repast and the twilight pillow, which distinguished the days of Elizabeth, are now changed for the evening breakfast, and the midnight dinner.

The evening is by no means the proper time to take much nourishment: for the powers of the system, and particularly of the stomach, are then almost exhausted, and the food will be but half digested.

Besides, the addition of fresh chyle to the blood, together with the stimulus of food acting on the stomach, always prevents sleep, or renders it confused and disturbed, and instead of having our worn out spirits recruited, by what is emphatically called by Shakespeare, "the chief nourisher in life's feast," and rising in the morning fresh and vigorous, we become heavy and stupid, and feel the whole system relaxed.

It is by no means uncommon, for a physician to have patients, chiefly among people of fashion and fortune, who complain of being hot and restless all night, and having a bad taste in the mouth in the morning. On examination, I have found that, at least in nineteen cases out of twenty, this has arisen from their having overloaded their stomachs, and particularly from eating hot suppers; nor do I recollect a single instance of a complaint of this kind in any person not in the habit of eating such suppers.

The immoderate use of spirituous and fermented liquors, is still more destructive of the digestive powers of the stomach; but this will be better understood, when we have examined the laws by which external powers act upon the body. The remarks I have made could not, however, I think, have come in better, than immediately after our examination of the structure of the digestive organs, as the impropriety of intemperance, with respect to food, is thus rendered more evident.

The appet.i.te becomes deficient from want of exercise, independently of the other causes that have been mentioned. Of all the various modes of preserving health, and preventing diseases, there is none more efficacious than exercise; it quickens the motion of the fluids, strengthens the solids, causes a more perfect sanguification in the lungs, and, in short, gives strength and vigour to every function of the body. Hence it is, that the Author of nature has made exercise absolutely necessary to the greater part of mankind for obtaining means of existence. Had not exercise been absolutely necessary for our well being, says the elegant Addison, nature would not have made the body so proper for it, by giving such an activity to the limbs, and such a pliancy to every part, as necessarily produce those compressions, extensions, contortions, dilatations, and all other kinds of motion, as are necessary for the preservation of such a system of tubes and glands.

We may, indeed, observe, that nature has never given limbs to any animal, without intending that they should be used. To fish she has given fins, and to the fowls of the air wings, which are incessantly used in swimming and flying; and if she had destined mankind to be eternally dragged about by horses, her provident economy would surely have denied them legs.

The appet.i.te becomes deficient on the commencement of many diseases, but this is to be looked upon here rather as a salutary than as a morbid symptom, and as a proof that nature refuses the load, which she can neither digest nor bear with impunity.

In healthy people the appet.i.te is various, some requiring more food than others; but it sometimes becomes praeternaturally great, and then may be regarded as a morbid symptom. The appet.i.te may be praeternaturally increased, either by an unusual secretion of the gastric juice, which acts upon the coats of the stomach, or by any acrimony, either generated in, or received into the stomach, or, lastly, by habit, for people undoubtedly may gradually accustom themselves to take more food than is necessary.

The appet.i.te sometimes becomes depraved, and a person thus affected, feels a desire to eat substances that are by no means nutritious, or even esculent: this often depends on a debilitated state of the whole system. There are some instances, however, in which this depravity of the appet.i.te is salutary; for example, the great desire which some persons, whose stomachs abound with acid, have for eating chalk, and other absorbent earths: likewise, the desire which s...o...b..tic patients have for gra.s.s, and other fresh vegetables. Appet.i.tes of this kind, if moderately indulged in, are salutary, rather than hurtful.

The appet.i.te for liquids as well as solids is sometimes observed to be deficient, and sometimes too great. The former can scarcely be considered as a morbid symptom, provided the digestion and health be otherwise good. But when along with diminished thirst, the fauces and tongue are dry, this deficiency may be regarded as a morbid and dangerous symptom.

A more common morbid symptom, however, is too great thirst, which may arise from a deficiency of fluids in the body, produced by violent exercise, perspiration, too great a flow of urine, or too great an evacuation of the intestines. A praeternatural thirst may likewise arise from any acrid substance received into the stomach, which our provident mother, nature, teaches us to correct by dilution; this is the case with respect to salted meats, or those highly seasoned with pepper. It may arise also from the stomach being overloaded with unconcocted aliment, or from a suppressed or diminished secretion of the salivary liquors in the mouth, which may arise from fever, spasm, or affections of the mind; an increased thirst may likewise take place, from a derivation or determination of the fluids to other parts of the body; of this, dropsy affords an example. Indeed, various causes may concur to increase the thirst; this is the case in most fevers, where great thirst is occasioned by the dissipation of the fluids of the body by heat, as well as by the diminished secretion of the salivary humours which should moisten the mouth; to which may be added, the heat and diminished concoctive powers of the stomach.

From what has been said, we can easily understand, why praeternatural thirst may sometimes be a necessary instinct of nature, at other times, an unnecessary craving; why acids, acescent fruits, and weak fermented liquors quench thirst more powerfully than pure water; and lastly, why thirst, in some instances, may be relieved by emetics, when it has resisted other remedies.

There is no organ of the body whose functions are so easily deranged as those of the stomach; and these derangements prove a very fertile source of disease; they ought, therefore, carefully to be guarded against; and it is fortunate for us that we have this generally in our power, if we would but avail ourselves of it: for most of the derangements proceed from the improper use of food and drink, and a neglect of exercise. Indeed, when we examine, we shall find but a short list in the long catalogue of human diseases, which it is not in our power to guard against and prevent: and which surely will be guarded against, when their causes are known, and consequences understood.

Among the diseases arising from a disordered state of the stomach and indigestion, may be enumerated the following: great oppression and anxiety, pain in the region of the stomach, with acid eructations, nausea, vomiting, the bowels sometimes costive, sometimes too loose, but seldom regular, depression of spirits, and all the long list, commonly, but very improperly, termed nervous complaints, deficient nutrition, and consequently general weakness, a relaxed state of the solids, too great a tenuity of the fluids, headach, vertigo, and many other complaints, too numerous to mention here.

The greatest misfortune, and which indeed arises from a want of physiological knowledge, is, that people labouring under these disorders, imagine they may be cured by the reception of drugs into the stomach, and thus they are induced to receive into that organ, half the contents of an apothecary's shop. There is no doubt that these complaints may oftentimes be alleviated, and the cure a.s.sisted, by medicines: thus, when the stomach is overloaded, this may be removed by an emetic; the same complaint of the bowels may be removed by a cathartic; and when the stomach is debilitated, we are acquainted with some substances which will give it vigour, such as iron, the Peruvian bark, and several kinds of bitters. These however, when used alone, afford but temporary relief; and unless the cause which induced the disease be removed, it will afterwards return with redoubled violence. When the stomach, for instance, is debilitated by want of exercise, I would ask, is there an article in the whole materia medica, that can cure the complaints of sedentary people, unless proper exercise at the same time be taken? With exercise tonic remedies will undoubtedly accelerate the cure, but without it, they will only make bad worse.

Again, when the stomach is debilitated by the use of improper food, or the abuse of fermented or spirituous liquors, I would say to any one who pretended to cure me of these complaints, without my making a total change in the manner of living, that he either was ignorant of the matter, or intended to deceive me.

In many cases the change of food must be strictly observed and persevered in for a long time before a cure can be effected. In some instances where the powers of the stomach were too weak to prevent the food from undergoing perhaps both a vinous and acetous fermentation, and where, in consequence of the disengagement of gas and the formation of acid, the most excruciating pains were felt, the most dreadful sickness experienced, and all the symptoms of indigestion present in the most aggravated state; after almost every article in the materia medica, generally employed, had been tried without success, I have cured the patient merely by prohibiting food subject to fermentation, such as vegetables, and enjoining a strict use of animal food alone.

In short, wherever the cause of a disease can be ascertained, the grand and simple secret in the cure, is the careful removal of that cause.

LECTURE V.

OF THE SENSES IN GENERAL.

In this lecture, I propose to take a view of the connexion of man with the external world, and shall endeavour to point out the manner in which he becomes acquainted with external objects, by means of the faculties called senses.

A human creature is an animal endowed with understanding, and reason; a being composed of an organized body, and a rational mind.

With respect to his body, he is pretty similar to other animals, having similar organs, powers, and wants. All animals have a body composed of several parts, and, though these may differ from the structure of the human body in some circ.u.mstances, to accommodate it to peculiar habits and wants of the animal, still there is a great similarity in the general structure.