Pathological and practical observations on diseases of the abdomen : comprising those of the stomach and other parts of the alimentary canal, oesophagus, caecum, intestines and peritoneum / by S.O. Habershon.

  • Habershon, S. O. (Samuel Osborne), 1825-1889.
Date:
1878
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Pathological and practical observations on diseases of the abdomen : comprising those of the stomach and other parts of the alimentary canal, oesophagus, caecum, intestines and peritoneum / by S.O. Habershon. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    38/772 (page 2)
    supply of nourishment be absorbed and assimilated ; if no restoration be made to the waste entailed by the exercise of every function, life must sooner or later cease; and disease, in its ravages, presents few spectacles more distressing to witness, than the gradual wasting of the frame, and cessation of life itself, from the non-supply of food. Thus the whole system sympathises with disorder of the alimentary canal. A knowledge of the structure and functions of each part of the digestive apparatus, is necessary for the right com- prehension of its diseases. The structures of the alimentary canal are various, and their sympathies universal; but in health these are so combined as to form a beautiful and harmonious whole : thus, 1st, we find a mucous membrane richly supplied with glands, lining the alimentary canal throughout its course ; these glands are for secretion and excretion ; the secretions from these act physically or chemi- cally in the digestive process, whilst the excretory glands separate noxious or effete principles from the blood. 2nd. Beneath the mucous is the muscular coat, essential for the execution of the required movements, and for the propulsion of the contents of the canal. 3rd. The peritoneal or serous covering, which by its smoothness permits of the move- ment of one portion of the intestine upon another, and allows distension to take place. 4th. The binding tissues, which are found between these previously mentioned tunics, and which support other equally essential parts, namely, 5th, the blood-vessels and lymphatics ; and, 6th, the nerves supplied by the sympathetic and cerebro-spinal. As Abercrombie has remarked, in reference to diseases of the stomach, so also, it may be added, in reference to every part of the alimentary canal; that for the proper performance of the function of digestion, the mucous membrane must be in health, the secretions normal, the supply of blood and of nervous energy such as is required, and the movements free. It must, however, be borne in mind, that the alimentary canal contains substances which are, sti'ictly speaking, external to the living agency and beyond the control of animal life ; and that those chemical forces, which we find in operation external to the body, act in the same manner within the stomach and small and large intestines : the food becomes dissolved when the