When these muscles are thrown out of use, they lose their
power, the whole system of organs mainly resting on them for support
can not continue in their naturally snug, compact, and rounded form,
but become separated, elongated, and unsupported. The stomach begins
to draw from above instead of resting on the viscera beneath. This in
some cases causes dull and wandering pains, a sense of pulling at the
centre of the chest, and a drawing downward at the pit of the stomach.
Then as the support beneath is really _gone,_ there is what is often
called "a feeling of _goneness."_ This is sometimes relieved by food,
which, so long as it remains in a solid form, helps to hold up the
falling superstructure. This displacement of the stomach, liver, and
spleen interrupts their healthful functions, and dyspepsia and biliary
difficulties not unfrequently are the result.
As the stomach and its appendages fall downward, the _diaphragm_,
which holds up the heart and lungs, must descend also. In this state
of things, the inflation of the lungs is less and less aided by the
abdominal muscles, and is confined chiefly to their upper portion.
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