CHAP. IL] MALY'S VIEWS. 113 



acid may be formed, but it is impossible to admit that the latter 

 acid would continue to exist sigle, by side of sodium bicarbonate, with 

 regard to the existence of which in the blood there cannot be a 

 doubt. 



Secondly If the stomach acted as an apparatus of diffusion, sepa- 

 rating, for instance, hydrochloric acid already formed in the blood, we 

 should expect its secretion to be like that of the kidney (which is 

 certainly the organ in which physical processes have most uncon- 

 trolled sway), a constant one, and to be influenced in a special 

 manner by the condition of the blood and the general condition of 

 the vascular system. The stomach, however, is a gland in which 

 secretion only occurs as a result of the application of peculiar stimuli 

 whose action unquestionably leads to the most remarkable changes 

 in the secreting cells of the organ. 



For these reasons we are forced to modify Maly's hypothesis so as 

 to make it reconcileable with known facts. 



The Author's We may conceive the acid-forming cells (border- 

 modification of cells) of the stomach to have, as cells of other secreting 



laiy's hypo- glands, peculiar selective powers in reference to certain 

 saline constituents of the blood ; we may conceive, for 

 instance, of their possessing a peculiar selective affinity for the phos- 

 phates of sodium, both alkaline and acid, and for chlorides. This 

 being granted, we have also to surmise that within the cell there 

 occur the reactions which certainly do occur in vitro when the above 

 salts coexist in solution; one of the products of the reaction will then 

 be hydrochloric acid, which, in virtue of its high power of diffusion, 

 will pass, as soon as formed, into the secretion of the gland. 



In this hypothesis we remove the seat of the formation of hy- 

 drochloric acid from the blood generally to the gastric glands, and, 

 whilst we adopt Maly's conception as to how physical and chemical 

 processes may lead to the formation of the acid of the gastric juice, 

 we subordinate them to the activity of the glandular epithelium, 

 which must first bring together the bodies which have to react one 

 upon the other. 



Apart from the probability which attaches to the above hypo- 

 thesis on theoretical grounds, it is to be noted that the only reliable 

 analyses of the mineral constituents of the gastric juice, viz. those of 

 Carl Schmidt, have proved that the gastric juice contains, in the 

 main, in addition to its organic matters and its hydrochloric acid no 

 inconsiderable quantity of mineral salts, which consist firstly of 

 chlorides of sodium, potassium and calcium, and secondly of calcium 

 and magnesium phosphate. These are salts which we should expect 

 to be present if the reaction whereby hydrochloric acid is generated 

 were such as the following : 



2Na 2 HP0 4 + 3CaCl 2 = Ca 3 (P0 4 ) 2 + 4NaCl + 2HC1. 



The following are the results of Carl Schmidt's analyses of gastric 

 G. 8 



