SECRETION OF THE GASTEIC JUICE. 227 



is always much greater than when food has been taken after 

 the ordinary interval. 



While natural food is undoubtedly the proper stimulus 

 for the stomach, and while, in normal digestion, the quantity 

 of gastric juice is perfectly adapted to the work it has to 

 perform, it has been noted that savory and highly seasoned 

 articles generally produce a more abundant secretion than 

 those which are comparatively insipid. An abundant secre- 

 tion is likewise excited by some of the vegetable bitters. It 

 was observed by Blondlot that the effects of alkalies and acids 

 upon the secretion were entirely opposite. He states, as a 

 general proposition founded on experiments, that while acids 

 retard digestion, the action of alkalies is always to produce a 

 great increase in the quantity of normal gastric juice. 1 He 

 also makes the general statement that alkalies promote the 

 flow of acid secretions, and vice versa; supposing, on this 

 principle, that the saliva tends to stimulate the flow of the 

 gastric juice, and the acid secretion from the stomach, passing 

 into the intestines, stimulates the flow of the alkaline fluids 

 poured into this part of the alimentary canal. Of the fact 

 that alkalies specially stimulate the gastric mucous membrane 

 there can be no doubt ; and it is probable that an abundant 

 flow of saliva and its thorough incorporation with the food 

 exerts, in this way, an important influence upon stomach- 

 digestion. 



Impressions made on the nerves of gustation have a 

 marked influence in exciting the action of the mucous mem- 

 brane of the stomach. Blondlot found that sugar, introduced 

 into the stomach of a dog by a fistula, produced a flow of 

 juice much less abundant than when the same quantity was 

 taken by the mouth. To convince himself that this did not 

 depend on the want of admixture with the alkaline saliva, 

 he mixed the sugar with saliva and passed it in by the 

 fistula, when the same difference was observed. 2 It is a cu- 



1 BLONDLOT, Traite Analylique de la Digestion, Paris, 1843, p. 219. 



2 Op. cit., p. 221. 



