[22] The Peritoneum. The intestines do not lie in a loose mass in the abdominal cavity. Lining the walls of this cavity, just as in a general way, a paper lines the walls of a room, is a delicate serous membrane, called the peritoneum. It envelops, in a greater or less degree, all the viscera in the cavity and forms folds by which they are connected with each other, or are attached to the posterior wall. Its arrangement is therefore very complicated. When the peritoneum comes in contact with the large intestine, it passes over it just as the paper of a room would pass over a gas pipe which ran along the surface of the wall, and in passing over it binds it down to the wall of the cavity. The small intestines are suspended from the back wall of the cavity by a double fold of the peritoneum, called the mesentery. The bowels are also protected from external cold by several folds of this membrane loaded with fat. This is known as the great omentum.
The peritoneum, when in health, secretes only enough fluid to keep its surface lubricated so that the bowels may move freely and smoothly on each other and on the other viscera. In disease this fluid may increase in amount, and the abdominal cavity may become greatly distended. This is known as ascites or dropsy.
[23] The human bile when fresh is generally of a bright golden red, sometimes of a greenish yellow color. It becomes quite green when kept, and is alkaline in reaction. When it has been omited it is distinctly yellow, because of its action on the gastric juice. The bile contains a great deal of coloring matter, and its chief ingiedients are two salts of soda, sodium taurocholate and glycocholate.
[24] Nansen emphasizes this point in his recently published work, Farthest North.
[25] We should make it a point not to omit a meal unless forced to do so. Children, and even adults, often have the habit of going to school or to work in a hurry, without eating any breakfast. There is almost sure to be a fainting, or “all-gone” feeling at the stomach before another mealtime. This habit is injurious, and sure to produce pernicious results.
[26] The teeth of children should be often examined by the dentist, especially from the beginning of the second dentition, at about the sixth year, until growth is completed. In infancy the mother should make it a part of her daily care of the child to secure perfect cleanliness of the teeth. The child thus trained will not, when old enough to rinse the mouth properly or to use the brush, feel comfortable after a meal until the teeth have been cleansed. The habit thus formed is almost sure to be continued through life.
[27] “If the amount of alcohol be increased, or the repetition become frequent, some part of it undergoes acid fermentation in the stomach, and acid eructations or vomitings occur. With these phenomena are associated catarrh of the stomach and liver with its characteristic symptoms,—loss of appetite, feeble digestion, sallowness, mental depression, and headache.”—James C. Wilson, Professor in the Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia.
“Man has recourse to alcohol, not for the minute quantity of energy which may be supplied by itself, but for its powerful influence on the distribution of the energy furnished by other things. That influence is a very complex one.”—Professor Michael Foster.
[28] “When constantly irritated by the direct action of alcoholic drinks, the stomach gradually undergoes lasting structural changes. Its vessels remain dilated and congested, its connective tissue becomes excessive, its power of secreting gastric juice diminishes, and its mucous secretions abnormally abundant.”—H. Newell Martin, late Professor of Physiology in Johns Hopkins University.
“Chemical experiments have demonstrated that the action of alcohol on the digestive fluids is to destroy its active principle, the pepsin, thus confirming the observations of physiologists that its use gives ride to the most serious disorders of the stomach and the most malignant aberrations of the entire economy.”—Professor E. C. Youmans, author of standard scientific works.
“The structural changes induced by habitual use of alcohol and the action of this agent on the pepsin, seriously impair the digestive power. Hence it is, that those who are habitual consumers of alcoholic fluids suffer from disorders o digestion.”—Robert Bartholow, recently Professor of Materia Medica in the University of Pennsylvania.
“Alcohol in any appreciable quantity diminishes the solvent power of the gastric fluid so as to interfere with the process of digestion instead of aiding it.”—Professor W. B. Carpenter, the eminent English physiologist.
[29] “Cirrhosis of the liver is notoriously frequent among drunkards, and is in fact almost, though not absolutely, confined to them.”—Robert T. Edes, formerly Professor of Materia Medica in Harvard Medical College.
“Alcohol acts on the liver by producing enlargement of that organ, and a fat deposit, or ‘hob-nailed’ liver mentioned by the English writers.”—Professor W. B. Carpenter.
[30] Preparation of Artificial Gastric Juice. (a) Take part of the cardiac end of the pig’s stomach, which has been previously opened and washed rapidly in cold water, and spread it, mucous surface upwards, on the convex surface of an inverted capsule. Scrape the mucous surface firmly with the back of a knife blade, and rub up the scrapings in a mortar with fine sand. Add water, and rub up the whole vigorously for some time, and filter. The filtrate is an artificial gastric juice.
(b) From the cardiac end of a pig’s stomach detach the mucous membrane in shreds, dry them between folds of blotting-paper, place them in a bottle, and cover them with strong glycerine for several days. The glycerine dissolves the pepsin, and on filtering, a glycerine extract with high digestive properties is obtained.
These artificial juices, when added to hydrochloric acid of the proper strength, have high digestive powers.
Instead of (a) or (b) use the artificial pepsin prepared for the market by the wholesale manufacturers of such goods.
[31] The cause of the clotting of blood is not yet fully understood. Although the process has been thoroughly investigated we have not yet a satisfactory explanation why the circulating blood does not clot in healthy blood-vessels. The ablest physiologists of our day do not, as formerly, regard the process as a so-called vital, but a purely chemical one.