CHAPTER XI. 



A BRIEF SURVEY OF THE PROCESSES OCCURRING IN 

 THE SMALL INTESTINE, IN RELATION ONE TO 

 THE OTHER. THE DESTRUCTION OF THE DIGES- 

 TIVE ENZYMES. 



HAVING considered, in detail, the action of the various secretions 

 which are poured into the alimentary canal, on the various consti- 

 tuents which the chyme contains on leaving the stomach, we must 

 now attempt very briefly to combine the various facts and to supple- 

 ment them by reference to some, the consideration of which it 

 appeared desirable to postpone. 



Newly -discovered facts tending to prove that none of the water ingested 

 is absorbed by the stomach, but passes into the intestine. 



Although the subject of absorption will not be minutely discussed 

 in this place, it is necessary to refer to researches published since the 

 first chapters of the present volume were printed, which, in opposition 

 to the statement made at page 154, prove that the stomach absorbs 

 no water, so that the whole of the water of the food passes during 

 the digestive process into the intestine. The matter has so important 

 a bearing on the whole conception of intestinal digestion as to warrant 

 the attention of the reader being drawn to it in the present place. 

 Tappeiner's Tappeiner 1 , as a result of experiments on dogs and 



cats in which he had ligatured the pylorus before in- 

 jecting into the stomach solutions of various alimentary and poisonous 

 substances, came to the conclusion that the stomach absorbs only 

 very small quantities of bodies which are introduced into it in aqueous 

 solution, whilst, on the other hand, it appears readily to absorb dilute 

 alcohol and substances dissolved in alcohol. Thus the quantities of 

 peptone, glucose and sodium sulphate absorbed from aqueous solu- 

 tions were so small as to fall within the limits of experimental error 

 When a dose of an aqueous solution of alcohol, sufficient to induce 



1 H. Tappeiner, 'Ueber Kesorption im Magen,' Zeitsch. f. Biol, Vol. xvi. (1881), 

 pp. 497507. 



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