ABSTRACT
Now, it hath been said that the food is digested three times before it becometh transformed into a substance suitable for
the nourishment of the members. The first digestion taketh place in the stomach, and the residuum thereof is the faecal matter which is ejected by means of the bowel and anus. The second digestion taketh place in the liver, and five different
Fol. 158b. kinds of products are the result. The first, which resembleth I the scum on broth, is the phlegm; this is transmitted to the lung, the chest, and the brain. The second, which resembleth the fat on broth, is the red bile; this the bladder (gall-bag?), which is in the liver, draweth away, and it becometh the bile. The third is blood, and it is taken by the veins, which have already been mentioned, and transmitted by them to the whole body. Now, the impurity thereof, which resembleth the impurity (sediment?) in wine, doth the spleen draw away by
Page 330 means of its veins. This is black bile. I The fourth is the residuum of the digestion. The fifth is the watery product of the whole digestion, and it resembleth the water which riseth up under the milk that cometh from sour cheese. This is the urine, and the kidneys draw it away and transmit it to the bladder, and it is emptied out by the urinary canal. This is the way in which the liver worketh, and these are the products that result from the digestion that taketh place therein. The third digestion taketh place in all the members that transform the food (or, nourishment) into substances suitable to their natures.
