Kitap 3
8
Further, it will be found acknowledged in Erasistratus's own writings that the circular fibres (by which the stomach as well as other parts performs its contractions) do not curtail its length, but contract and lessen its breadth. For he says that the stomach contracts peristaltically round the food during the whole period of digestion. But if it contracts, without in any way being diminished in length, this is because downward traction of the gullet is not a property of the movement of circular peristalsis. For what alone happens, as Erasistratus himself said, is that when the upper parts contract the lower ones dilate.cf. p. 97. And everyone knows that this can be plainly seen happening even in a dead man, if water be poured down his throat; this symptomFor symptom, cf. p. 13, and p. 12, note 3. Transitum namque materiae per angustum corpus id accidens consequitur (Linacre). Less a result or consequence than an accompaniment. results from the passage of matter through a narrow channel; it would be extraordinary if the channel did not dilate when a mass was passing through it.i.e.. this is a purely mechanical process. Obviously then the dilatation of the lower parts along with the contraction of the upper is common both to dead bodies, when anything whatsoever is passing through them, and to living ones, whether they contract peristaltically round their contents or attract them.i.e.. this pneomenon is a proof neither of peristolé nor of attraction. cf. p. 97, note 2.
8
Curtailment of length, on the other hand, is peculiar to organs which possess longitudinal fibres for the purpose of attraction. But the gullet was shown to be pulled down; for otherwise it would not have drawn upon the larynx. It is therefore clear that the stomach attracts food by the gullet.
