A treatise on diet : with a view to establish, on practical grounds, a system of rules for the prevention and cure of the diseases incident to a disordered state of the digestive functions / By J.A. Paris.

  • John Ayrton Paris
Date:
1828
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A treatise on diet : with a view to establish, on practical grounds, a system of rules for the prevention and cure of the diseases incident to a disordered state of the digestive functions / By J.A. Paris. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    21/228 page 9
    ~The Atimeniary Canai. g the stomach: we shall therefore cease to wonder that an impres- sion made upon it by a medicinal agent, or by an alimentary substance, should afford the means of exciting an action in the most distant parts of the machine ;—nor can we be surprised that the aberrations of this central organ should give origin to the greater number of maladies with which the body is afflicted ; - or, that those applications should be so effective which are di- rected, for their cure, through the medium of its sympathies. But that we inky not, like the members in the ancient fable, wage an unjust war against the stomach for the maladies which it may thus inflict, it 1s necessary to state, that the stomach suffers equally, in its turn, from the derangement of distant organs. What practitioner has not witnessed the sudden sickness pro- ‘duced by the sprains of tendinous and ligamentous structures, or by blows on the head or other parts? To distinguish between the sympathetic and primary affections of the digestive organs, is a problem of the greatest practical importance; and the pro- fession is much indebted to Mr. Abernethy for his endeavours ‘to show how the stomach and bowels may become affected from local disorder. — 10. Although it would be obviously foreign to the plan and objects of this work to enter into minute anatomical investi- ‘gations, yet as there are certain facts, connected with the struc- ture and locality of the alimentary organs, which it is essen- tial for the practitioner to bear in mind, [ shall here offer such a description of them as may appear necessary for his guid- ance, or for the maintenance of that perspicuity which : am _ anxious to bestow upon the following pages. In the perform- ance of this task, | shall preserve the order of arrangement al- ready noticed (9), viz.— u ¥. Tue Aurmentary Canat. 11. Although, im strict language, the alimentary canal includes the whole passage from the mouth to the anus, the termis more usually employed to express only the stomach and intestinal tube. It may be represented. as a long canal, commonly cal- culated as being five or six times the length of the adult, diffe- rently twisted upon itself, and of different dimensions in various parts of its extent. Anatomists describe it as composed of seve- ral distinct tunics, or coats, the existence of which may be traced throughout its whole extent, although their structure undergoes variation in the different divisions of the canal; but this will be better understood when we come to speak of its individual parts. ‘The intestinal canal is susceptible of a peculiar motion, which arises from the successive or simultaneous contraction of its lon- situdinal or circular fibres, and has been differently denominated by authors; some have named it vermicular, others peristaltic,
    digitised image 1
    digitised image 2
    digitised image 3