for Nourishment, are volatiliz'd.
Lastly, There are some others who reject the Opinions I have already mention'd, and suppose the Digestion of the Food to be perform'd by the Benefit of a Ferment; which, when it is mixed with the Aliment, excites in the Mass an intestine motion; and the different and contrary motions and tendency of the Parts, making some kind of Collision, gradually break off Particles from the grosser, and more solid Parts, till they are so attenuated as to be apt to mix more equally with the Fluid, and with them to make one soft or chylous Substance. But yet there is not amongst them an universal Consent, either about the Nature of this Ferment, or the manner how it is supply'd. For first, some think it to be the Remains of the Food that was last digested; which having lain some time in the Stomach, after the rest is carried down into the Intestines, contracts an Acid, or some other Quality, and is so alter'd, as to partake of the Nature of a Leaven. And this Leaven being a part of the Food, which has been already digested, is so soft and liquid as to be capable of mixing with the Aliment, which is next taken into the Stomach; and being agitated with it by the repeated Pressures of the Diaphragm, Liver, and Abdominal Muscles upon the Stomach in Respiration, does diffuse it self through the whole Mass; and being mixed with it, like Leaven, or Yest added to new Wort, &c. puts it into a State of Fermentation; and by this Fermentation, or the Expansion of the Ferment, and the more tenuious Parts, which are first put into motion by it, those which are more solid, and with which they are intermixed, are rent, and divided, and so attenuated, as to become a soft and pulpous matter. And altho' the greatest part of the Food, that is thus broken and concocted, is by the Contraction of the Fibres of the Stomach press'd into the Duodenum; yet