GASTRIC SECRETIN 7 



it is not known to what particular component of the extract 

 this special secretion-stimulation is due. The flesh of fish 

 seems to be more effective than other meats. 11 Extracts 

 of yeast are much less active than meat-extract. 12 The latter 

 shows marked influence, too, if introduced subcutaneously 

 or per rectum. It is scarcely practicable here to enter into 

 detailed mention of the action of the great mass of bitter 

 stuffs, alkaloids, alcohol, mineral waters and neutral salts 

 upon gastric secretion 13 ; but in actual practice all these sub- 

 stances are of medicinal interest in the therapy of hyper- 

 acidity and hypersecretion. It is but fair to remark, how- 

 ever, that in this connection we are not upon safe ground, 

 particularly as many of the affections which clinicians have 

 been in the habit of classifying under the terms just stated, 

 should, perhaps, be classed as disturbances of gastric motil- 

 ity, hyperaesthesia of the gastric mucous membrane and 

 other comparable conditions. 14 



While not assuming from a theoretical standpoint to 

 enter into a full discussion of this subject, the author is 

 unwilling to pass over a group of other factors of sig- 

 nificant physiological character, of importance in stimulat- 

 ing secretion of the gastric juice. An attempt has' been 

 made to establish a relation between the salivary glands and 

 gastric secretion, from the circumstance that total extirpa- 

 ion of the former in the dog has seemingly occasioned a 

 considerable diminution of the gastric secretion 15 ; but the 

 correctness of this assertion has been questioned. 16 



Gastric Secretin. It has been observed that when neu- 

 tralized gastric juice or the product of acid-extraction of the 

 gastric and intestinal mucous membranes and of many other 



11 Cf. B. Lonnquist, Skand. Arch. f. PhysioL, 18, 194, 1906. W. N. Boldy- 

 reff, Arch. f. Verdauungskr., 15, 268, 1909. 



12 W. Hoffmann and M. Wintgen, Arch, f . Hygiene, 61, 187, 1907. 

 "Literature: A. Bickel, Handb. d. Biochem., 8', 66-69, 1910. 



"Cf. V. Rubow, Arch. f. Verdauungskr., 12, 1, 1906; R. Kaufmann, 

 Zeitschr. f. klin. Med., 57, 491, 1905. 



* Hemmeter, Biochem. Zeitschr., 11, 238, 1908. 



"A. S. Lowenhart and D. R. Hooker, Proc. Soc. Exper. Biol., 5, 114, 1908. 



