This acid, in small quantities, is a grateful and wholesome stimulant; it will often check the chemical fermentation of certain substances in the stomach, and prevent vegetable matter in its raw state from inducing flatulence; but its use requires caution, and in some morbid states of the system it is obviously improper. Fatty and gelatinous substances frequently appear to be rendered more digestible in the stomach by the addition of vinegar, although it is difficult to offer either a chemical or physiological explanation of the fact. The native vegetable acids may also be occasionally substituted; the addition of lemon-juice to rich and glutinous soups renders them less liable to disagree with the stomach; and the custom of eating applesauce with pork is, undoubtedly, indebted for its origin to the same cause. I shall take this opportunity to observe that vinegar, if taken in considerable quantities, as is not unfrequently the case with young persons, to prevent the accumulation of fat, is highly injurious to the digestive organs; and, if the habit be long continued, will produce fatal marasmus.