Book 3 — Chapter IV
Arthur John Brock translation
Chapter IV
Same two faculties seen in stomach. Gurglings or borborygmi show that this organ is weak and is not gripping its contents tightly enough. Undue delay of food in a weak stomach proved not to be due to narrowness of pylorus: length of stay depends on whether digestion (another instance of the characteristically vital process of alteration) has taken place or not. Erasistratus wrong in attributing digestion merely to the mechanical action of the stomach walls. When digestion completed, then pylorus opens and allows contents to pass downwards, just as os uteri when development of embyro completed.