Conversations on Chemistry Part 105

Nor is this all; for our delicacies are collected from the various climates of the earth, so that the four quarters of the globe are often obliged to contribute to the preparation of our simplest dishes.

CAROLINE.

But the very complicated substances which const.i.tute the nourishment of animals, do not, I suppose, enter into their system in their actual state of combination?

MRS. B.

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 h.o.m.ogeneous ma.s.s 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 ma.s.s, 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.

They are probably not subject to its action; as long, at least, as life continues. But it appears, that when the gastric juice has no foreign substance to act upon, it is capable of occasioning a degree of irritation in the coats of the stomach, which produces the sensation of hunger. The gastric juice, together with the heat and muscular action of the stomach, converts the aliment into an uniform pulpy ma.s.s called chyme. This pa.s.ses into the intestines, where it meets with the bile and some other fluids, by the agency of which, and by the operation of other causes. .h.i.therto unknown, the chyme is changed into chyle, a much thinner substance, somewhat resembling milk, which is pumped by immense numbers of small absorbent vessels spread over the internal surface of the intestines. These, after many circ.u.mvolutions, gradually meet and unite into large branches, till they at length collect the chyle into one vessel, which pours its contents into the great vein near the heart, by which means the food, thus prepared, enters into the circulation.

CAROLINE.

But I do not yet clearly understand how the blood, thus formed, nourishes the body and supplies all the secretions?

MRS. B.

Before this can be explained to you, you must first allow me to complete the formation of the blood. The chyle may, indeed, be considered as forming the chief ingredient of blood; but this fluid is not perfect until it has pa.s.sed through the lungs, and undergone (together with the blood that has already circulated) certain necessary changes that are effected by RESPIRATION.

CAROLINE.

I am very glad that you are going to explain the nature of respiration: I have often longed to understand it, for though we talk incessantly of _breathing_, I never knew precisely what purpose it answered.

MRS. B.

It is indeed one of the most interesting processes imaginable; but, in order to understand this function well, it will be necessary to enter into some previous explanations. Tell me, Emily, --what do you understand by respiration?

EMILY.

Respiration, I conceive, consists simply in alternately _inspiring_ air into the lungs, and _expiring_ it from them.

MRS. B.

Your answer will do very well as a general definition. But, in order to form a tolerably clear notion of the various phenomena of respiration, there are many circ.u.mstances to be taken into consideration.

In the first place, there are two things to be distinguished in respiration, the _mechanical_ and the _chemical_ part of the process.

The mechanism of breathing depends on the alternate expansions and contractions of the chest, in which the lungs are contained. When the chest dilates, the cavity is enlarged, and the air rushes in at the mouth, to fill up the vacuum formed by this dilatation; when it contracts, the cavity is diminished, and the air forced out again.

CAROLINE.

I thought that it was the lungs that contracted and expanded in breathing?

MRS. B.

They do likewise; but their action is only the consequence of that of the chest. The lungs, together with the heart and largest blood vessels, in a manner fill up the cavity of the chest; they could not, therefore, dilate if the chest did not previously expand; and, on the other hand, when the chest contracts, it compresses the lungs and forces the air out of them.

CAROLINE.

The lungs, then, are like bellows, and the chest is the power that works them.

MRS. B.

Precisely so. Here is a curious little figure (PLATE XV. Fig. 5.), that will a.s.sist me in explaining the mechanism of breathing.

CAROLINE.

What a droll figure! a little head fixed upon a gla.s.s bell, with a bladder tied over the bottom of it!

MRS. B.

You must observe that there is another bladder within the gla.s.s, the neck of which communicates with the mouth of the figure--this represents the lungs contained within the chest; the other bladder, which you see is tied loose, represents a muscular membrane, called the _diaphragm_, which separates the chest from the lower part of the body. By the chest, therefore, I mean that large cavity in the upper part of the body contained within the ribs, the neck, and the diaphragm; this membrane is muscular, and capable of contraction and dilatation. The contraction may be imitated by drawing the bladder tight over the bottom of the receiver, when the air in the bladder, which represents the lungs, will be forced out through the mouth of the figure--

EMILY.

See, Caroline, how it blows the flame of the candle in breathing!

MRS. B.

By letting the bladder loose again, we imitate the dilatation of the diaphragm, and the cavity of the chest being enlarged, the lungs expand, and the air rushes in to fill them.

EMILY.

This figure, I think, gives a very clear idea of the process of breathing.

MRS. B.

It ill.u.s.trates tolerably well the action of the lungs and diaphragm; but those are not the only powers that are concerned in enlarging or diminis.h.i.+ng the cavity of the chest; the ribs are also possessed of a muscular motion for the same purpose; they are alternately drawn in, edgeways, to a.s.sist the contraction, and stretched out, like the hoops of a barrel, to contribute to the dilatation of the chest.

EMILY.