On the organic diseases and functional disorders of the stomach / by George Budd.

  • Budd, George, 1808-1882.
Date:
MDCCCLV [1855]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On the organic diseases and functional disorders of the stomach / by George Budd. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by King’s College London. The original may be consulted at King’s College London.

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    so strongly arrested the attention of Hunter, were of this kind. It was early remarked by Hunter, that softening of the stomach does not occur in all cases of violent death; and it was inferred from his observations, and the in- ference was strengthened by the experiments of Hr. W. Philip and Dr. Carswell, that it only takes place when death happens soon after a meal; that is, while the process of digestion in the stomach is actively going on. It is, indeed, only at such times that the stomach, under ordinary circumstances, contains any gastric juice. While the stomach is empty of food, the fluid which moistens its surface is not acid, and has no peculiar solvent power. This point was conclusively established by the observations of Dr. Beaumont on the stomach of St. Martin, which could he seen and examined through a large fistulous opening in the wall of the belly; and one of the most interesting circumstances witnessed by Dr. Beaumont in his long-continued observations was the out-pouring of the gastric juice on mechanical irritation of the inner surface of the stomach, and espe- cially on the introduction of food. The following is the account he gives of one of his experiments. (Exp. 63.) “Jan. 19tli.—At 9 o’clock, a.m., coats of stomach perfectly healthy and clean. No appearance of morbid action; tongue clean, and every appearance of perfect health. There was no free fluid in the gastric cavity until after the elastic tube was introduced, when it began slowly to distil from the end of the tube, drop by drop, perfectly transparent and distinctly acid. I obtained about one drachm of this kind, and then gave him a mouthful of bread to eat. No sooner had he