Fine View of Stomach Coatings.  -- On turning over the flap we obtain a very fine view of this remarkable membrane.  The areolar coat is placed between the mucous coats, and connects with both.  The muscular coat is very thick and stout, and composed of three sets of fibres,  the longitudinal, circular and oblique, which form three distinct layers.  The outer coat is a thin, smooth, transparent and elastic membrane, derived from the peritoneum, and well lubricated to prevent friction.  When the fibres of the muscular wall contract, a peculiar churning movement of the stomach is produced, thus securing the thorough mixing of its contents, that every particle may come into contact with the solvent properties of the gastric juice.

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There's not much to say about the section however from a chemistry perspective I wonder if the author understood what comprise the gastric juice.  Biology was never my strong suit however I seem to recall from chemistry class that hydrochloric acid is the actual chemical that constitutes the majority of the gastric juice,  I can't remember what strength of HCl is in the stomach, but as I recall the lining of the stomach is strong enough to hold it without being burnt or damaged.  I must've missed the lesson that explained why your throat and esophagus and possibly your nostrils are burned when items in your stomach go the wrong way. 

There are a lot of things that of been learned over the last 100 years and I want to mention that I'm not trying to point out the ignorance of the writer or the author or even demonstrate my own ignorance, I'm just trying to remark on the evolution of thought in the change that's taken place over a hundred years.  I'm comparing the written knowledge of medical professionals as compared to a layman today.  It's an apples to oranges comparison, or maybe a different way to put it with an even worse analogy is that it's stone tool cutting versus a  plasma cutting way of achieving the same result.  The irony is that some stone tools actually have sharper and more precise blades and many of the tools that we've created over the last 100 years, and so I recognize that there are some things that we may have learned over the last 100 years that are actually a step backwards.  Maybe with a little bit of luck, if I find it in this book I'll actually know it when I see it.

Additional Articles from the Book of Medicine:

• NATURAL POSITION OF CHILD AT TIME OF BIRTH
  
  

  This beautiful and effective plate shows the natural position of the child at the time of birth.  It is technically called the presentment of the fœtus for birth.  Of the presentment’s there are many varieties, whose study is most interesting to the obstetrician.  Some of them give rise to very difficult and dangerous delivery.  When the presentment is natural, as in the figure, the comfort of the mother is increased and the doctor’s anxiety is modulated.

   

  First off, the plate that this section refers to is located in our section on chart 2.  Here is the specific picture in question. 

  

  Second,that lasthave sense that talks about the anxiety of the doctor, I think that could be misconstrued a couple different ways.  It could appear that the author is more worried about the doctor than the mother.  That was my initial interpretation.

  It could also be, that the author was trying to tell the reader, that it’s okay to be anxious or you should be anxious if the fetus is not in the ideal position at childbirth.This could be some sort of hidden warning.It could also be something to tell doctors to relax if things are lined up correctly.

  At this time, most babies were delivered at home.If a doctor was present, that was actually something.There really wasn’t a great deal that they could do though if things went seriously wrong. 

  In our modern era we are so used to having medical professionals on hand to cover every little thing from corrective eye surgery to a nose job and we don’t think about these things. Furthermore, medical services of the specialized nature are becoming close in common. If I need to find a charlotte cosmetic dentist to fix my smile, I can drive 20 miles down the road and find one.

  Back then, you are doing good field drive a buggy 20 miles down the road to find a general practice doctor.

• Cholera Due to Impure Water
  
  

  Cholera Due to Impure Water. — among the remarkable outbreaks which goes to prove that this mode of cholera propagation is not at all uncommon, maybe mention the following, condensed from Mr. Simons eighth report as medical officer of the English privy Council, during the prevalence of cholera in England in 1865: A gentleman and his wife in the village of Theydon-Bois, and Essex, have been lodging at the town of Weymouth for two or three weeks, and returned home towards the end of September. On their way home they pass through Dorchester, where the gentleman was seized with diarrhea, vomiting and cramps, which continued more or less during the next day in the day following, when he reached his own home. During the journey to wife also began complaining of pains in the abdomen, which was followed by diarrhea and eventually by cholera, from which she died.

   

  Here’s the first paragraph from Wikipedia on Cholera which I’m providing just as a simple contrast in the information level known now versus 100 years ago…

  Cholera, sometimes known as Asiatic cholera or epidemic cholera, is an infectious gastroenteritis caused by the bacterium Vibrio cholerae.^[1][2] Transmission to humans occurs through ingesting food or water that is contaminated with cholera vibrios. The major reservoir for cholera was long assumed to be humans themselves, but considerable evidence exists that aquatic environments can serve as reservoirs of the bacteria. Vibrio cholerae is a Gram-negative bacterium that produces cholera toxin, an enterotoxin, whose action on the mucosal epithelium lining of the small intestine is responsible for the characteristic massive diarrhea of the disease.^[1] In its most severe forms, cholera is one of the most rapidly fatal illnesses known, and a healthy person may become hypotensive within an hour of the onset of symptoms; infected patients may die within three hours if medical treatment is not provided.^[1] In a common scenario, the disease progresses from the first liquid stool to shock in 4 to 12 hours, with death following in 18 hours to several days, unless oral rehydration therapy is provided.

  That contrast in detail and accuracy is pretty amazing in and of it self.  We live in an age where modern marvels in medical advancement such as the evolution from glasses to contact lenses to lasik corrective surgery demonstrate evolutionary and revolutionary change 3 times over. So it is no wonder that even when they were on the right track with a topic 100 years ago, the level of understanding was still exceptionally rudimentary.

• Outbreak at Salford Jail
  
  

  Outbreak at Salford Jail.  — In the Salford, England, jail there was a sudden outbreak of diarrhea of a choleric type, which affected more than half of the prisoners; while of the officers and their families, who were distributed throughout the building, not one was attacked.  The food of the convicts was examined and found to be good; it was evident, also, that the air to not contain the cause of the disease, as both classes above mentioned were under the same conditions in that respect.  Suspicion was therefore directed to the drinking water.  It was then discovered that, though the water supply in all parts of the prison was derived from the same source, there was one sister for the use of the officers, and another’s covered cistern for furnishing to the prisoners their allowance, and that the un-trapped overflow pipe of the latter communicated with an open sewer.  On the day of the outbreak of diarrhea in the jail, the water from the cistern was observed to be colored and to taste unpleasantly.

  This is definitely an interesting historical footnote, even though it would appear that this case was likely at least 20-50 years old when the author covered it 100 years from the publication of this internet article.  Never the less, it is interesting to learn again how this case was tracked and gain some additional historical perspective.  It helps us to understand the actual situations that led to policy and change and codes in plumbing and more over the years and helps make the current code less distant as if its there for the simple practice of bureaucracy as if we were reading actuarial tables about term life insurance and not a medical guide that might have saved some people’s lives as they put this into practice.