DIGESTION 233 



organisms, notably the tubercle bacillus. Hence the 

 possibility of acquiring tuberculosis by drinking milk. 

 The sterilizing power of the stomach varies greatly, 

 according to the stage of digestion and the nature of the 

 food. It reaches its maximum towards the end of diges- 

 tion, when hydrochloric acid is present in the free state, 

 whilst it is much less, or even in abeyance altogether, in 

 the earlier stages, when only combined acid is present. 

 Foods rich in protein, by combining with much of the 

 acid, lessen the germicidal power of the gastric juice. 

 Over the growth of organisms in the intestine the 

 stomach seems to exert but little control. Even when 

 the secretion of gastric juice is entirely arrested, or the 

 stomach is excised, no increase in the amount of intestinal 

 putrefaction occurs.* Increased decomposition in the 

 bowel can therefore hardly be regarded as the cause of 

 the diarrhoea which is apt to occur in cases of achylia. 



3. The regulation of the temperature of the food 



is one of the minor, but none the less important, functions 

 of the stomach. In this respect it acts as a protector of 

 the intestine, which appears to be more sensitive to 

 extremes of temperature than the stomach itself. As 

 ordinarily taken, the temperature of food may be con- 

 sidered to vary between 5 C. and 50 to 60 C. It 

 requires only about ten minutes for a pint of liquid at 

 50 C. (122 F.) to be brought down to the body tempera- 

 ture after it has been swallowed, but considerably longer 

 for a similar quantity at 5 C. (41 F.) to be raised to the 



* Schlatter, Lancet, 1898, i. 146, and Filippi, Deutscli. Med. 

 Woch., 1894, xx., No. 40. 



