* * * * *

CHAPTER XI

DIGESTION

"We may live without poetry, music and art;
We may live without conscience, and live without heart;
We may live without friends, we may live without books,
But civilized man cannot live without cooks."

The human digestive system consists of a long tube, in which food is
received, nutriment taken from it as it passes slowly downwards, and from
which waste is discharged, in from sixteen to thirty hours afterwards.

Six glands pour saliva into the mouth, where it should be--but how rarely
is--mixed with the food, causing chemical changes, and moistening the bolus
to pass easily down.

The acid Gastric Juice, of which a quart is secreted daily, stops the
action of the saliva, and commences to digest the proteins, which pass
through several stages, each a little more assimilable than the last.

The lower end of the stomach contracts regularly and violently, churning
the food with the juice, and gradually squirting it, when liquified to
Chyme, into the small intestine. If food is not chewed until almost
liquified, the gastric juice cannot act normally, but has to attack as much
of the surface of the food-lump as possible, leaving the interior to
decompose, causing dyspepsia and flatulence.