The other case was that of a keen sportsman, who, after a day of such severe fatigue as to have been unable to dismount his horse without assistance, partook of a very hearty meal, and retired to rest; in the middle of the night he was seized with a paroxysm resembling Angina Pectoris in its most awful form. It was, however, speedily relieved by a large dose of ammonia, combined with an active purgative. It ought to be stated, that this gentleman had suffered on former occasions, in a less degree, from the same cause, but he had never experienced the same alarm; he was now, therefore, most anxious to obviate the possibility of such another attack; for this purpose, I advised him upon all occasions of excessive fatigue, to retire to rest without taking any other refreshment than that of a cupful of thin gruel with the addition of a table-spoonful of brandy; and I have since learnt that the plan has been successful.

281. It must, however, be allowed that under ordinary circumstances such attacks from an overloaded stomach are not frequent, nor likely to occur, except the muscular powers of that viscus be so impaired as to prevent the usual efforts which nature employs to throw off an unmanageable burthen.

282. Should indigestion in the stomach continue to recur, the paroxysm will assume a more troublesome character; its symptoms will increase in number and extent, and the mischief will speedily involve other functions: but before I proceed to follow the course which it usually runs, it will be useful to examine the causes to which, the origin of the disease in the stomach is to be attributed.

283. It has been stated that, in every change which the aliment undergoes, we shall discover the combined operation of mechanical and chemical agents: when the food, therefore, is introduced into the stomach, it owes its conversion into chyme to such combined actions, viz. the chemical power of the gastric juice, and the mechanical movements of the stomach. It is to the failure or imperfect operation of the one or the other of these necessary actions that indigestion is to be attributed. However perfectly the gastric juice may be secreted, if the mass be not sufficiently churned in the stomach, it cannot become perfect chyme; and the most active motions of the stomach will not compensate for a deficiency in the alimentary solvent. It signifies very little whether the paucity of the gastric liquor be absolute or relative; that is to say, whether it be originally secreted in less than a natural proportion, or the quantity of food taken be so great that the usual proportion of the solvent is insufficient for its solution: in either case, an indigestion must follow although there appears to exist an accommodating power in the healthy stomach, which enables it to regulate its supply according to the call which may be made for it.

284. The quality and quantity of the gastric fluid, secreted by the stomach, may be influenced by causes immediately acting upon that organ, or by those which affect it through the medium of sympathy. Under the first class of causes may be noticed those which produce a direct influence upon the nerves of the stomach, without whose healthy action no secreting surface can perform its functions with regularity. Amongst these, the injudicious ingestion of narcotic substances, or of alcohol, deserve a distinguished notice. The languor arising from inanition also brings on what Mr. Aber-nethy calls a "discontented state of the stomach;" in which case the gastric juice is not secreted in a healthy manner. But the causes which act locally on the secreting powers of the stomach are few in number, and perhaps small in importance when compared with those which act through the medium of sympathy. During the periods at which the posterior stages of digestion are performed, the healthy secretion of gastric juice is not easily excited; and if, therefore, food be presented at these times, it will be apt to occasion indigestion.

An overloaded state of the bowels will be attended with the same consequence; exercise, when accompanied with fatigue, or indolence, may, by producing general debility, occasion a corresponding state of collapse in the stomach. Passions of the mind1, fear, anxiety, and rage, are also well known to affect the nervous system, and through that medium, the stomach; and so immediately are its consequences experienced, that a person receiving unpleasant intelligence at the hour of a repast, is incapable of eating a morsel, whatever might have been his appetite before such communication.

"-------------Read o'er this;

And after this; and then to breakfast With what appetite you may".

285. The sympathy subsisting between the skin is another source, and often an unexpected cause of gastric debility. If the cutaneous vessels be unusually excited, and this excitation be continued for any length of time, they will at length fall into a state of indirect debility, whence a sense of faintness, loss of appetite, and inability of digesting solid food, will be experienced. This fact explains the diminished appetite of which persons complain in hot weather, and that universal custom in tropical climates of combining the food with large quantities of aromatic stimulants. One of the most striking instances indicative of this consent between the skin and stomach is, where cold or wet is applied to the lower extremities, exciting pain in that organ, and indigestion1. Violent spasms, and, in persons predisposed to gout, an attack of that disease in the stomach, have been occasioned by remaining for some time with the feet thoroughly wet. The custom of pouring spirit into the shoes or boots upon such occasions, from the mistaken idea of counteracting .the evil, increases the mischief, from the additional cold produced by its evaporation.

The first object, under such circumstances, is to prevent evaporation; and the chance of taking cold is greatly diminished, if not entirely prevented, by covering the wet clothes with some dry garment. It has been said, and perhaps with some reason, that thin shoes and light dress render delicate females, notwithstanding their temperance, more subject to the whole tribe of dyspeptic complaints, particularly flatulence and want of appetite.