Artificial digestion is a laboratory technique that reduces digestible material for analytical purposes. Naturally occurring digestive agents such as pepsin and hydrochloric acid are typically used to accomplish artificial digestion.
As an example, artificial digestion is used to detect the presence of encysted trichinella larvae in suspected muscle tissue. The meat sample is dissolved by a digestive solution and the remains are examined for the presence of larvae.
Famous quotes containing the words artificial and/or digestion:
“A true politeness does not result from any hasty and artificial polishing, it is true, but grows naturally in characters of the right grain and quality, through a long fronting of men and events, and rubbing on good and bad fortune.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Memory is like a purse,—if it be over-full that it cannot shut, all will drop out of it. Take heed of a gluttonous curiosity to feed on many things, lest the greediness of the appetite of thy memory spoil the digestion thereof.”
—Thomas Fuller (1608–1661)