A lecture on the physiology of digestion : introductory to a course of lectures on the Institutes of Medicine and Materia Medica : delivered before the medical class of the University of the City of New York, at the session of 1844-5 / by Martyn Paine.
- Paine, Martyn, 1794-1877.
- Date:
- 1844-5
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: A lecture on the physiology of digestion : introductory to a course of lectures on the Institutes of Medicine and Materia Medica : delivered before the medical class of the University of the City of New York, at the session of 1844-5 / by Martyn Paine. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)
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![ments of organic bodies into that state in which they exist before they participate in the processes of life.—Liebig's Lectures for 1844. In the action of the gastric juice on the food, no other element takes a share except the oxygen of the atmosphere. This air by means of the saliva, reaches the stomach with the food, and there its oxygen enters into combination.—Lie- big's Animal Chemistry. The power of elements to unite to- gether, and to form peculiar compounds which are generated in animals and vege- tables, is CHEMICAL AFFINITY. LlEBIG'S Organic Chemistry applied to Physiolo- gy, &c [See, also, as to elements, the 6th, page 12, and 2d paragraph, page 13, and 3rd paragraph, page 10, and the 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th paragraphs, page 14, right hand column ; and other places. ] We should not permit ourselves to be withheld, by the idea of a vital principle, from considering in a chemical point of view, the process of transformation of the food, and its assimilation by the va- rious organs. This is the more necessary, as the views, hitherto held, have produced no results, and are quite incapable of use- ful application.—Liebig's Organic Chem- istry applied &c.—[See third paragraph, page 11, right hand column, and other contradictory quotations in same column.] In the natural state of the digestive process, the food only undergoes a change in its state of cohesion, becoming fluid without any other change of properties. —Liebig's Animal Chemistry. Although— the process of chymifica- Tion is independent of the vital force, and takes place in virtue of a purely chemical action, exactly similar to those processes of Decomposition which are known as pu- trefaction, fermentation, or decay;— nevertheless, Inorganic compounds dif- fer from organic in as great a degree as in their simplicity of constitution.'— Liebig's Animal Chemistry, and Organic Chemistry. [See next quotation, this col- umn, and 1st and 2d paragraphs page 22.] By chemical agency we can produce the constituents of muscular fibre, skin, and hair! We are able to form, in stroys the force of attraction which is con- tinually exerted between their molecules. It alters the direction of the chemical forces in such wise, that the elements of the constituents of the food arrange themselves in another form, and com- bine to produce new compounds. It for- ces the new compounds to assume forms ALTOGETHER DIFFERENT from those which are the result of the attraction of cohe- sion when acting freely, that is, without resistance. The vital force appears as a moving force or cause of motion, when it over- comes the chemical forces, cohesion and affinity, which act between the constit- uents of food, and when it changes the position or place in which their elements occur. The vital force is manifested as a cause of motion in overcoming the chemical attraction of the constituents of food, and is, farther, the cause which compels them to combine in a new ar- rangement, and to assume new foims.— Liebig's Animal Chemistry. When a chemical compound of sim- ple constitution is introduced into the sto- mach, its chemical action is, of course, opposed by the vital principle. The results produced depend upon the strength of their respective actions. Either an equilibrium of both powers is attained, a change being effected without the destruc- tion of the vital principle ; in which case a medicinal effect is occasioned. Or, the acting body yields to the superior force of vitality, that is, it is digested. Or, lastly, the chemical action obtains the ascendency and acts as a poison.— Liebig's Organic Chemistry applied to Physiology, &c. The individual organs, such as the stomach, cause all the organic substances conveyed to them, which are capable of transformation, to assume new forms. The stomach compels the elements of these substances to unite into a compound fitted for the formation of the blood.— Liebig's Organic Chemistry, &,c The first substance capable of afford- ing nutriment to animals is the last pro- duct of the creative energy of veget- ables.—Liebig's Animal Chemistry. The special characters of food, that is of substances fitted for assimilation, are absence of active chemical properties, and the capability of yielding to trans- formations.—Liebig's Organic Chemis- try applied to Physiology, &c. The constituents of vegetable and animal substances having been formed under the guidance and tower of the](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b21145064_0014.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
