Lectures on the diseases of the stomach : with an introduction on its anatomy and physiology / by William Brinton.

  • Brinton, William, 1823-1867.
Date:
MDCCCLXIV [1864]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Lectures on the diseases of the stomach : with an introduction on its anatomy and physiology / by William Brinton. 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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    substances, but a weak and turbid solution, which readily yields its dissolved constituents to ordinary reagents. And even in the case of an acidulated infusion of intestine—where the results are necessarily affected by the diffusion of gastric juice over the whole digestive canal—the nature and amount of the process do not allow it to be any way comparable with that effected by an artificial gastric fluid. The effect of the neutral salts on artificial digestion has scarcely been investigated with all the attention it merits. But it is probable that many of these inorganic substances assist solution, when present in small quantities, but oppose it when added in excess. This is especially the case with chloride of sodium, the ordinary condiment of mankind and of many animals. The effect of alcohol is also regulated by its amount and concentration. Diluted, it seems to have no chemical action whatever. In larger quantities, as before remarked, it precipi- tates pepsine. And in still greater excess, it permanently destroys all its digestive energy. In respect to the solvent properties of the gastric juice on the various protein-compounds, an exact determination of the quantity of pepsine which these substances require for their solution, would greatly assist us in solving many problems with respect to the chemistry of digestion. But the estimates derived from actual experiment are very conflicting—if, indeed, they can be considered really comparable. It may, however, be estimated, that one part of pepsine will dissolve about fifteen of moist and finely divided albumen : while the gastric juice itself possesses the power of dissolving from fifteen to twenty per cent, of its weight of the same substance. The gastric juice dissolves, not only the various protein- compounds, but gelatin, chondrin, and gluten. In doing so, it arrests (and generally removes) all decomposition or putrefac- tion which they may be undergoing. The mere physical con- dition of the substances to be dissolved remarkably influences the rate of the process : density and bulk rendering it slow, while conversely, it is accelerated by minute division. The quantity of solvent required varies with the nature and aggre- gation of the particular substance.