So far from it, that they not only undergo a new arrangement of their parts, but a selection is made of such as are most proper for the nourishment of the body, and those only enter into the system, and are animalised.
EMILY.
And by what organs is this process performed?
MRS. B.
Chiefly by the stomach, which is the organ of digestion, and the prime regulator of the animal frame.
Digestion is the first step towards nutrition. It consists in reducing into one homogeneous mass the various substances that are taken as nourishment; it is performed by first chewing and mixing the solid aliment with the saliva, which reduces it to a soft mass, in which state it is conveyed into the stomach, where it is more completely dissolved by the gastric juice.
This fluid (which is secreted into the stomach by appropriate glands) is so powerful a solvent that scarcely any substances will resist its action.
EMILY.
The coats of the stomach, however, cannot be attacked by it, otherwise we should be in danger of having them destroyed when the stomach was empty.
MRS. B.