48 SCIENCE PROGRESS. 



Langley and Dickinson ^ found that in the dog or cat 

 stimulation of the vagus caused movement of the stomach 

 and stimulation of the splanchnic inhibited that movement. 



Oser ■" examined the innervation of the pylorus by obser- 

 vation of its condition through an opening in the duodenum 

 either by means of a cylindrical rubber bag passing through 

 it, or by simply passing a finger through it and noting the 

 resistance offered. He found that stimulation of the vagus 

 markedly increased that resistance and stimulation of the 

 splanchnic had the reverse effect. By introducing a sound 

 and filling the stomach with warm saline solution after the 

 duodenum had been occluded by a ligature below the 

 pylorus he showed that stimulation of the vagus produced 

 a marked contraction which was followed after the cessa- 

 tion of the stimulus by a relaxation to a greater extent than 

 before stimulation. Stimulation of the splanchnic produced 

 cessation of any irregular rhythmic contractions that might 

 have been present, accompanied by a relaxation. On cessa- 

 tion of the stimulation, the tonic contraction increased and 

 was accompanied by an unusually active rhythm which 

 however is easily inhibited by renewed splanchnic stimula- 

 tion. His experiments were carried out upon dogs. 



Morat ^ investigated the movements of the stomach by 

 introducing a sound carrying a thin-walled bag into the 

 empty stomach. The bag can then be distended to a 

 certain extent and registers the movement of the stomach- 

 wall. He describes a marked rhythm which varies very 

 much in different cases, but increasing in rate, in force and in 

 tone, on stimulation of the peripheral cut end of either 

 vagus. Stimulation of the splanchnic brings about the 

 reverse effect, vis., a diminution in the amount of tone, and 

 a fall in the rate and force of the rhythm. He moreover 

 found evidence of muscular inhibitory fibres in the vagus, 

 for he found that stimulation of the central end of one 

 divided vagus, the opposite being intact, produced a dilation 

 of the organ which dilatation was not produced if the 



^ I'roc. jR. S., vol. xlvi., p. 423, 1889. 



2 Zeitschr.f. klin. Med., vol. xx., p. 285, 1892. 



2 Arch. de. Physiol., vol. xxv., p. 142, 1893. 



