3°4 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



vals, or by periodic accesses of an uninterrupted ache. The record of 

 Mr. Washburn's introspection of his hunger pangs agreed closely with 

 the record of his gastric contractions. Almost invariably, however, the 

 contraction nearly reached its maximum before the record of the sen- 

 sation was started (see Fig. 1). This fact may be regarded as evidence 



Fig. 1. One half the original size. The top record represents intragastric pres- 

 sure (the small oscillations due to respiration, the large to contractions of the 

 stomach) ; the second record is time in minutes (ten minutes) ; the third record ia 

 Mr. W.'s report of hunger pangs ; the lowest record is respiration registered by means 

 of a pneumograph about the abdomen. 



that the contraction precedes the sensation, and not vice versa, as Boldi- 

 reff considered it. The contractions were about a half-minute in dura- 

 tion, and the intervals between varied from thirty to ninety seconds, 

 with an average of about one minute. The augmentations of intragastric 

 pressure in Mr. Washburn ranged between 11 and 13 in twenty 

 minutes; I had previously counted in myself eleven hunger pangs in 

 the same time. The rate in each of us was, therefore, approximately 

 the same. This rate is slightly slower than that found in dogs by 

 Boldireff; the difference is perhaps correlated with the slower rhythm 

 of gastric peristalsis in man compared with that in the dog. 44 



Before hunger was experienced by Mr. Washburn the recording 

 apparatus revealed no signs of gastric activity. Sometimes a rather 

 tedious period of waiting had to be endured before contractions oc- 

 curred. And after they began they continued for a while, then ceased 

 (see Fig. 2). The feeling of hunger, which was reported while the 

 contractions were recurring, disappeared as the waves stopped. The 

 inability of the subject to control the contractions eliminated the possi- 

 bility of their being artifacts, perhaps induced by suggestion. The 

 close concomitance of the contractions with hunger pangs, therefore, 

 clearly indicates that they are the real source of those pangs. 



Boldireff's studies proved that when the empty stomach is mani- 



44 See Cannon, American Journal of Physiology, 1903, VIII., p. xxi; 1905, 

 XIV., p. 344. 



