y
to the stomach itself. It may be readily granted that all the symptoms
described by Mr. Halsted, take place, in consequence of an affection of
the stomach, either primarily or secondarily; but to assert that they
are the results of a bad concoction of the viands we eat and drink, and
to act accordingly, is to misunderstand the meaning of a term, as well
as the treatment of a disorder.

It is stated, in this work, that dyspepsia is Protean in its symptoms,
but single and uniform in its nature; the very reverse is the fact; its
symptoms are of a single character, and of an uniform attack, while its
nature is variable and inconstant. A dyspeptic will complain of a want
of appetite, a degree of squeamishness and irritability, eructations,
heart-burn, pain in the head, stomach, and bowels, with costiveness; his
tongue will be furred, and his pulse a little increased in strength and
quickness. To use the language of Dr. Armstrong, "the most constant
symptoms of dyspepsia, are a furred tongue, flatulence of the stomach,
and fretfulness, or depression of spirits;" he goes on to say, "these
may arise primarily from disorder or disease in the stomach itself, or
they may depend upon an affection of the brain, liver, bowels, or some
other remote or adjacent part." The nature of dyspepsia depends totally
upon its cause, and where so many circumstances may occasion it, it is
difficult to imagine one more variable. The important organs before
alluded to, so necessary to the economy of life, are all liable to the
most severe visitations of disease. Not to be too prolix, take, for the
sake of example, the first on the list, the liver: both in the acute and
chronic forms of inflammation of this viscus, how important a change is
wrought in the digestive functions, how enfeebled does the system become
during its continuance, and how futile would be the attempt to relieve
the malady by merely attacking one of its symptoms! And so, of the other
viscera, all marked when in a morbid state by peculiar characteristics,
not only affecting their own action, but all the parts in their
neighbourhood, the stomach as one of the great centres of the system in
particular; and yet, with all these facts in review, are we presented
with a list of ailments as dependant upon an impropriety in digestion,
which may in all probability (at least the greater part of them) be
traced to a source totally different. A careful discrimination of the
origin of disease