A treatise on the digestion of food / by G. Fordyce, M. D. F. R. S. fellow of the Royal College of Physicians, and reader on the practice of physic, in London.

  • George Fordyce
Date:
1791
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A treatise on the digestion of food / by G. Fordyce, M. D. F. R. S. fellow of the Royal College of Physicians, and reader on the practice of physic, in London. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by University of Bristol Library. The original may be consulted at University of Bristol Library.

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    [ 3? ] animal mucilage by itfelf, or an empyreu- matic oil, fimilar to that produced from moft vegetable mucilages. Mucilage is capable of being combined with water, and is found always naturally combined with water forming fluids, or fo- lids, of a greater or lefs degree of vifcidity and flexibility, the degree by no means de- pending upon the quantity of water they combine with, as is mown from this expe- riment. Farinaceous matter, ftarch for inftanee, may be diflblved in water in a moderate de- gree of heat, fo as to form a fluid of no very great vifcidity; but boiling it, gives it immediately a great degree of vifcidity, Without evaporating the water. An idea has obtained, that when muci- lage unites with water, fo as to form a fo- lid, that it has only imbibed the water into its pores, and has not combined with it chemically j but this is totally erroneous; for