Fallowing

“ An agent acting upon the mucous membrane of the mouth, stomach, or intestine, may produce in the nervous system important effects as regards digestion, and yet we may have no sensation of this either through taste or through smell, its parts not entering into communication with the central organ of sensation. ”

“ In all of these operations, except in breathing, the various parts of the mouth are engaged. In eating we use the lips, the tongue, and the teeth. The teeth serve the purpose of grinding the food, the tongue turns it during the process of grinding, and delivers it up to the throat for the purposes of the stomach, when sufficiently masticated. The lips serve to confine the food in the mouth, and assist in swallowing it, and there are glands underneath the tongue, and in the sides of the mouth, which pour in a fluid to moisten the food. ”

“ MasticationIn order to get full value from food we must masticate it thoroughly. Digestion begins in the mouth with the action of the saliva, hence the necessity of thorough chewing. If the saliva is thoroughly mixed with the food, salivary digestion continues for some time in the stomach. ”

“ Mastication.—Thorough mastication of all food up to the point of involuntary swallowing, with the attention directed, however, not on the mechanical act of chewing, but on the tasting and enjoyment of the food; liquid foods to be sipped and tasted, not drunk down like water. There should be no artificial holding of food in the mouth beyond the time of natural swallowing, even if, as is to be expected at the start, that swallowing is premature. ”

“ The whole nutritive apparatus is moved. The stomach becomes sensible, the gastric juices are moved and displace themselves with noise, the mouth becomes moist, and all the digestive powers are under arms, like soldiers awaiting the word of command. After a few moments there will be spasmodic motion, pain and hunger. ”

“ Especially serious is the mistake often made by persons in delicate health of swallowing—no other word can be used, for the digestive organs altogether refuse to respond to the action of the mouth—large quantities of some concentrated form of food, such as even the strongest stomach could not deal with in that form. ”

“ Swallowing our food is immediately caused by the pleasureable sensation occasioned by its stimulus on the palate or fauces and is acquired long before the nativity of the animal. Afterwards the pain of hunger previously produces the various voluntary exertions to procure the proper material, but the actions of masticating and of swallowing it are effected by the sensorial power of sensation ”

“ In the act of deglutition, the food, after being subjected to the fluid supplied in the mouth by the adjacent glands, is poised upon the tongue and swallowed partly by a sudden jerk of the head, and partly by means of the pressure of the tongue against the hard palate, the food then passes down the esophagus and lodges first in the crop, till needed by the stomach, when it is passed through the second portion of the esophagus to the first portion of the stomach, the proventriculus. The time during which food remains in the crop depends upon the nature of the food. ”

“ Though during the mastication of our natural food the salival glands are excited into action by the stimulus on their excretory ducts, and a due quantity of saliva is separated from the blood, and poured into the mouth; yet as this mastication of our food is always attended with a degree of pleasure ”

“ In conclusion, what I have tried to show is, that the stomach is not the cause of the disorder, although generally the seat of it; that the organs irritated seem to be the semicircular canals of the ear, or the abdominal viscera, or both, which become full of blood and cause vomiting, which seems rather an effort of Nature to equalize the circulation than any desire on the part of the stomach to rid itself of its contents. ”

“ Restoration of the tone of the stomach may be promoted by the taste, sight, or smell, of pleasant food, and expectoration is stimulated by the swallowing of remedies that can not be expected to reach the mucous membrane of the respiratory passages, simply by the operation of the principle under consideration. ”

“ The organ of smell is in intimate relation with the brain and the organs of taste and sight; and its action may thus disturb that of the esophagus, the stomach, the diaphragm, the intestines, the organs of generation, etc. Odorous substances have occasioned syncope, stupor, nausea, vomiting, and sometimes death. ”

“ The [222] organs of digestion also present arrangements peculiar to themselves; the mouth is placed on the lower part of the body, and is pierced at the extremity of a trumpet-like tube, hanging sometimes like the tongue of a bell. The walls of the stomach, again, are furnished with a multitude of appendages, which have their origin in the cavity of the organ, and which are very elastic. The stomach, furnished with these vibratile cells, appears to secrete a juice whose function is to decompose the food and render it digestible. ”

“ Prickling at the tip of the tongue. Sour eructations, desire for cold water, ice. Loathing of food, acidity after every mouthful of food. 35. Pressive constriction in the throat. Burning from the larynx to the tongue as from peppermint, with desire for fresh air. The food descends in the œsophagus as if turned round like a screw. At other times the soup falls heavily and precipitately, as if through a metallic tube into the stomach, which trembles violently. Watery, yellowish diarrhœa, which is mixed with slime, attended with rumbling in the bowels. 40. Urine almost red. Urine profuse. ”

“ We are therefore excited or prompted to receive nourishment by the pleasant smell or taste of the food; but the avidity with which we take it depends much on the state of the stomach, and likewise on a certain inanition or emptiness; for the coarsest food is grateful to those who are hungry, and whose digestion is good; whereas, to those who have lately eaten, or whose digestive powers are impaired, the most delicate food affords little pleasure. While we are eating, the saliva flows into the mouth more copiously, which excites a more acute sensation of taste. ”

“ These glands have a great number of apertures for the discharge of the secreted humour into the mouth: hence it will be understood that, if the stomach, or the glandular system, be in a disordered state, the palate likewise will become corrupted; and, that persons who continually stimulate their appetite with heating drugs, spices, liquors, &c. cannot expect to possess either a natural relish for plain and wholesome food, or a good digestion.—See Mastication. ”

“ The influences unfavorable to digestion, however, are stronger than those which promote it. And evidently, if the digestive process, because of emotional disturbance, is for some time inhibited, the swallowing of food which must lie stagnant in the stomach is a most irrational procedure. ”

“ If the throat be slightly tickled with a feather, a nausea is produced, that is, an inverted action of the mouths of the lymphatics of the fauces, and by direct sympathy an inverted action of the stomach ensues. As these parts have frequently been stimulated at the same time into pleasurable action by the deglutition of our daily aliment, their actions become strongly associated. And as all the food, we swallow, is either moist originally, or mixed with our moist saliva in the mouth ”

“ Be shut in the streets - The cavities of the cheeks and jaws, through which the food may be said to travel before it is fitted by mastication or chewing to go down the aesophagus into the stomach. The doors or lips are shut to hinder the food in chewing from dropping out ”

“ As the stomach, which is beneath the gullet, receives the meat and drink, so the lungs and the heart draw in the air from without. The stomach is wonderfully composed, consisting almost wholly of nerves; it abounds with membranes and fibres, and detains what it receives, whether solid or liquid, till it is altered and digested. It sometimes contracts, sometimes dilates. It blends and mixes the food together, so that it is easily concocted and digested by its force of heat, and by the animal spirits is distributed into the other parts of the body. ”

“ When the tongue is wholly red and dry, or red in part, with whitish or yellow fur on its edge, the inference may be fairly drawn, that the digestive organs are in a morbid condition, and which is further shewn by the loss of appetite, and by the state of unnatural thirst. ”

“ Material food is first received by the bodily mouth, and after the processes of mastication and deglutition is let down into the stomach, for the purpose of a more interior introduction into the body. ”

“ At the times of these inverted efforts of the stomach not only the lymphatics, which open their mouths into the stomach, but those of the skin also, are for a time inverted; for sweats are sometimes pushed out during the efforts of vomiting without an increase of heat. ”

“ Vomiting, at first of the contents of the stomach and later of rice-water material, is a distressing feature to the patient and by reason of the manner in which it often gushes from the patient’s mouth is liable to contaminate the attendants. ”

“ But this is not all; for in bilious complaints, when the stomach is most disordered, bitters never fail of making evil worse. The stomach is a delicate viscera, and should ever be the most cautiously dealt with. Whatever part of the human body is in exquisite pain, the stomach 226from the nervous consent always partakes, and is apt to be depraved in its functions; whence a nausea is liable to ensue; and in such a case any stimulants, particularly where bitters are concerned, is ever of evil tendency. ”

“ If the inflammation is acute, the mouth is dry and parched, or as is more frequently the case, the flow of saliva is abundant and acrid, and, when swallowed, irritates the stomach and bowels, producing fever, diarrhea, griping pains, and flatulency. The tongue is either coated white or red, and is glossy, and the sense of taste is considerably impaired. Digestion and nutrition are then disturbed, and the patient becomes rapidly emaciated. ”

“ Because the mouth is open when the child is crying, and the mouth leads to the stomach, parents jump to the conclusion that it is open for the purpose of being filled, and proceed to cram it accordingly; forgetting all the while that the mouth leads also to the windpipe, and may be open for the admission of air to the lungs as well as of food to the stomach,—and that if they stuff it with cake or pudding when it is open only for the reception of air, they run the risk of suffocating the little innocent when their only wish is to soothe him. ”

“ We have here another illustration of the beneficence of the Creator, who has kindly so arranged that the very act of mastication gratifies taste, the mouth being the seat of this sensation. But if we disregard these benevolent laws, and introduce unmasticated food into the stomach, the gastric juice can act only upon its surface, and changes of a purely chemical nature frequently commence in food thus swallowed before digestion can take place. ”

“ He inclines to the belief that "bitters not only act directly on the gustatory nerves in the mouth, but that they also act on the mucous membrane of the stomach in such a way that sensations are generated which contribute to the passionate craving for food." ”

“ My Lord, I am apt to think it would have putrified the stomach less than the lungs, because the stomach is a part of the body that is contrived by nature partly to receive liquids; but the contrivance of the lungs is only for the receiving of air; they being of a spongy nature, the water might sink more into them than the stomach ”

“ The mouth, the pharynx, the œsophagus, the stomach, and other digestive apparatus through­out the long winding circle through which the food passes on its way to the heart, must digest and transmute the whole mass so as to eliminate every nutritive particle from it. ”

“ The mechanical work is done with the jaws and tongue, and the chemical work is performed by the saliva. When the mechanical work is done thoroughly the chemical work is also thorough, and the test for thoroughness is loss of taste. Masticate the food until all taste has disappeared, and then it will be found that the swallowing reflex unconsciously absorbs the food, conscious swallowing, or at least, an effort to swallow, not being called for. ”

“ Nature has established such a sympathetic relation between these two parts, that when the mucous surface of the stomach is disordered, and is the seat of that kind of catarrh which is called derangement, fulness of the stomach, &c. that of the tongue is also affected and furnishes more mucous juices, which alter and destroy the appetite, and thus prevent the taking of aliments which the stomach could not digest, and which often even it would not bear. ”

“ Thus we know that the stimulus of food in the stomach sends a chemical substance from one ductless gland in the digestive system chasing through the blood to another gland which prepares a different digestive secretion further on. ”

“ In the stomach it causes a sensation of warmth which is diffused over the abdomen and quickly followed by a general glow of the body. In moderate quantity, it induces an increased blood-supply which enables the mucous follicles and gastric glands to produce a more abundant secretion of stomach juices. ”

“ As he opened this receptacle I observed that the gums were ill-provided with teeth, so that mastication must be imperfect. It is really extraordinary how the wives of working-men exhibit their ingenuity in proving "how not to do it." It is said that the way to a man's heart is through his stomach. ”