248 NERVOUS SYSTEM. 



nard ; but his experiments on animals with a fistulous open- 

 ing into the stomach are the most striking. 



Notwithstanding the apparent arrest of the movements 

 of the stomach in digestion by section of the pneumogastrics, 

 experiments carefully performed show that substances may 

 be very slowly passed to the pylorus, and that the move- 

 ments, though they are immensely diminished in activity, 

 are not entirely abolished. This fact has been established 

 beyond question by the experiments of Schiff, who attributes 

 the movements occurring after section of the nerves to local 

 irritation of the intramuscular terminal nervous filaments. 1 



Effects of Section of the Pneumogastrics upon Digestion, 

 etc. Since the publication of the second volume of this work, 

 in which we considered briefly the action of the pneumogas- 

 trics in digestion, we have reviewed the literature of the sub- 

 ject, as well as the publications that have appeared since 

 that time, but we find little, if any thing, to add to the state- 

 ments already made. 2 The facts with regard to the effects 

 of division of the nerves in the cervical region upon the se- 

 cretion of gastric juice are briefly as follows : 



"When both nerves are divided, while an animal is in full 

 digestion, the mucous membrane becomes pale and flaccid, 

 and the secretion of gastric juice is apparently arrested at 

 once ; but if the animal survive the operation for a day or 

 two, a small quantity of juice may be secreted as the result 

 of local stimulation, and digestion of a very small quantity 

 of food, finely divided and introduced into the stomach 

 by a fistulous opening, may take place. 3 A serious difficulty 

 in the digestion of large masses of food after division of the 

 nerves is due to the cessation of the movements of the 

 stomach. It is stated by Tiedemann and Gmelin, that di- 



1 SCHIFF, Lemons sur la physiologic de la digestion, Florence et Turin, 1867, 

 tome ii., p. 389. 



8 See vol. ii., Digestion, p. 283. 



3 LONGET, Traite de physiologic, Paris, 18691, tome in., p. 649. 



