36 



THE WOKK OF THE DIGESTIVE GLANDS. 



connection, have burdened the attention and memory of my hearers to an 

 undesirable extent. But in cursorily introducing them I did not by any 

 means intend that you were to retain all their complicated details in your 

 minds ; this would naturally need frequent repetition and a thorough 

 study of the circumstances. I wished merely to bring home to you the 



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c 

 <u 







F 



\ 



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Flesh, '200 grins. Bread, 200 grms. Milk, COOc.c. 



IG. 7. Curves representing the rate of secretion of gastric 

 juice with diets of flesh, bread, and milk. 



I i 



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Flesh, 200 grins. Bread, 200 grms. Milk, 600 c.c. 



FIG. 8. Curves representing the digestive power of gastric 

 juice, hour by hour, with diets of flesh, bread, and 

 rnilk. 



conviction that the work of the digestive glands is, if I may say so, 

 elastic to a high degree, while it is at the same time characteristic, precise 

 and purposive. It is to be regretted that till now the rationale of the 

 latter feature has remained a field of investigation but little touched 

 upon. The belief that gland work conforms to laws largely depends 

 at the present time on general inferences, and only in part upon facts 

 not altogether clear in themselves and not wholly free from objection. 

 Take, for example, the quantities of ferment which the stomach pours 

 out on corresponding nitrogen equivalents of the various kinds of food : 



