SECRETORY NERVES OF THE STOMACH. :>1 



dividing it. I now pull gently cm the thread to draw the nerve out- 

 wards, and sever it with a sharp snip of the scissors. At present the 

 pulmonary and abdominal vagi on both sides are paralysed, while on the 

 right side the laryngeal and cardiac fibres are intact. The result is, as 

 you see, that the dog, after division of the left cervical vagus, shows no 

 indication whatever of a pathological or otherwise uncomfortable con- 

 dition. There are even no symptoms of cardiac or laryngeal distress, 

 the usual causes of danger to the animal after complete division of the 

 cervical vagi on the two sides. We again offer the dog food to eat, 

 which it eats with increasing greed for five, ten, fifteen minutes, but, in 

 sharp contrast to the previous sham feeding, we do not see a single 

 drop of juice flowing from the stomach. We may feed the dog as long 

 as we wish, and repeat our experiment in the next few days as often as 

 we desire, but never again shall we see a secretion of gastric juice in 

 this animal as the result of sham feeding. The experiment demon- 

 strated to you may be repeated at will, and always with the same result.* 

 These investigations were first carried out by me in conjunction 

 with Madam Schumow-Simanowski, and the same result was observed by 

 Dr. Jiirgens with dogs having both vagi severed below the diaphragm. 

 Finally, a like effect was obtained by Professor Ssanozki in a dog with the 

 fundus of the stomach resected after the manner of Heidenhain, an 

 operation which involves, as is well known, the division of the vagus 

 fibres in forming the flaps. 



Basing my conclusions on these results, I take the liberty of assert- 

 ing that the proof of the matter in question has been raised beyond the 

 possibility of all doubt or chance. You see then, gentlemen, that it is 

 only necessary to accomplish the division of the vagi nerves under 

 suitable conditions in order to achieve indubitable and invariable 

 results, and this, as I have said, always happens when these conditions 

 are fulfilled. 



Since the fibres of the cervical vagus which go to the larynx and heart 

 are not completely divided (the abdominal fibres are, however, totally 

 severed), there can be no question of any general feeling of severe dis- 

 comfort producing a harmful influence on the secretion of gastric juice. 

 There is, indeed, no feeling of general ill-health whatever, the dog eats 

 immediately after the operation quite as lustily as before. (This is an 

 essential advantage of our procedure over the former method, of carrying 



* The dog which served for the above experiment remained alive for several 

 months. Later the right vagus was also divided in tJir neck, nevertheless the 

 animal continued in perfect health and enjoyed its life to the full. Oft-repeated 

 experiments with sham feeding never gave a secretion. The same condition 

 was manifested by another dog which likewise survived a double division of the 

 cervical vagi for many months. 



