GASTRIC JUICE. 



231 



Inferior animals, an indispensable condition in the study of the digestive fluids. In 1843, 

 Blondlot published a treatise on digestion, in which he gave the results of experiments 

 on dogs with fistulous openings into the stomach. This observer is generally spoken of 

 .as the first to obtain the gastric juice by the establishment of a fistula into the stomach 

 in the inferior animals ; but Longet states that, in December, 1842, Dr. JBassow read a 

 paper before the Imperial Society of Naturalists of Moscow, which was published in the 

 Bulletin for that year, in which he gave an account of a number of successful attempts 

 to establish gastric fistulae in dogs. In the animals operated upon by Bassow, the 

 fistula was not kept open by a canula, and he was much annoyed by its tendency to 

 close. There is no reason to suppose that Blondlot was aware of the experiments of 

 Bassow, which, as Longet remarks, were little known to physiologists and, as far as we 

 are aware, were not quoted in works on physiology before the publication of Longet's 

 treatise, in 1861. With some slight modifications in the operative procedure, the method 

 of Blondlot is the one now in common use. 



The establishment of a permanent gastric fistula is now one of the simplest and most 

 oommon of the physiological experiments. The dog is the animal generally used ; and, 

 from the fact that he is not very subject to peritonitis, the operation almost always ends 

 in recovery, and the animal can be trained so that the juice may be obtained in quantity 

 and with great facility. The operative procedure which we have found most convenient 

 is the following : 



It is best to choose a dog of medium size, young, but nearly, if not entirely full grown, 

 in perfect health, and of good disposition. Bringing the animal under the influence of 

 ether, he is to be held firmly on the back, and an incision 

 about two inches in length is made in the median line into the 

 abdominal cavity. This incision should be commenced from 

 half an inch to an inch below the ensiforrn cartilage. Intro- 

 ducing the finger into the abdominal cavity, the stomach can 

 readily be felt, especially if it be moderately distended ; and, 

 with a pair of hooked, or bull-dog forceps, that portion of the 

 stomach nearest the wound may be seized and drawn out of 

 the abdomen. It is important to make the fistula into that 

 portion of the anterior wall of the stomach which is nearest 

 the wound, in order to avoid disturbance in the position of the 

 viscera; and the organ is in the most favorable position for 

 the operation if it be moderately distended with food. 



A portion of the stomach being drawn out of the abdomen, 

 a slit is made parallel to the longitudinal fibres, just large 

 enough to admit the canula. 



A silver canula, about an inch and a quarter in length, half 

 an inch in diameter, and provided with a straight rim or flange 

 at each end about half an inch in width, is now introduced into 

 the stomach and firmly secured in place by a ligature sur- 

 rounding it and passed in and out through the coats of the 

 stomach near the lips of the wound, like the string of a purse. 

 This canula may be single or, as suggested by Bernard, double, 

 one half screwing into the other so that it may be elongated to 

 twice the length it has when closed. This is somewhat con- 

 venient, as the tube may be introduced elongated, and, when 

 the swelling of the parts has subsided, it may be shortened by a 

 key, so as not to project beyond the abdominal walls. 



After the canula has been firmly fixed in the stomach, the 

 tube, w^th one of its flanged ends projecting, should be drawn to the upper part of the 

 opening in the abdomen, and the wound closed by sutures passed through the integument, 

 muscles, and peritoneum. 



3. Tube for gastric fis- 

 tula. (Bernard.) 

 A, B, section of the silver tube 

 partly unscrewed; C, projec- 

 tion to receive the key used 

 in turning the screw ; D, head 

 of the key; E, extremity of 

 the tube. 



