PATHOLOGY OF GASTRIC SECRETION. 1G7 



enemy, when the work of defence ceases, or it leads to a conquest 

 by the enemy, which brings as a result the injury or destruction 

 of this or that part of the body. But if an organ be destroyed, its 

 function naturally ceases. Have we not therefore in this, a method 

 which is quite commonly used in physiology for the investigation of the 

 functions of a given organ, a method put into operation by nature with 

 a delicacy which is quite unattainable by our crude technical measures? 

 If the destruction be limited to a single organ, compensation for the 

 loss of its function is gradually provided. A new condition of body 

 equilibrium is established ; other supplementary organs come into 

 play. We learn in this way to recognise new and finer relations 

 between the organs, and discover functions which were previously 

 hidden. If, however, the injury be not limited to a single organ, but 

 spreads still wider owing to the functional relationships between organs, 

 we have again a method of recognising these relationships which, if 

 followed up, may lead to the discovery of the cause, as well as the 

 primaiy seat of action of the process by which continuity of function 

 in the organism has been impaired. 



Is not this from beginning to end true physiology, in which we 

 seek to penetrate into the relationships between important parts of the 

 body ? Only an incurable scholastic could say that it is not part of our 

 work. Nay more, it is precisely the physiologist who is most competent 

 to decide upon the value of such investigation methods, and to logically 

 apply them to the study of vital phenomena. The Physiologist is here, 

 therefore, in his special field of research. 



The experimental method indeed soon proved triumphant in our new 

 field, namely, the EXPERIMENTAL PATHOLOGY OF DIGESTION. Although 

 only two workers in the laboratory have given special attention to it, 

 I am already able to communicate some data which, it appears to me, 

 are calculated to excite the interest of the whole clinical world. These 

 at present apply only to the pathology of the gastric glands. 



The method of isolating a gastric cul-de-sac, already known to the 

 members of this society, has again proved to be of inestimable assist- 

 ance in pathological investigations. It not only permits all the details 

 of the diseased condition of the glands to be laid bare, but is invaluable 

 in the analysis of the pathological condition. When pathogenic agencies 

 (such as great heat or cold, various strong chemical reagents, ifec.) were 

 caused to act on the surface of the miniature stomach, the deviations 

 of the activity of the gastric glands from the normal could be observed 

 in an ideal manner. Every drop of the altered secretion of the 

 mucous membrane could be collected. Every detail of the pathological 

 condition, even the most minute, could be seen. The diseased state 



