356 A MANUAL OF PHYSIOLOGY 



It has been supposed by some that this bactericidal action 

 is the chief function of the stomach, and the question has 

 been asked, why we should attribute any digestive im- 

 portance to the secretion of that viscus, since the pancreatic 

 juice can do all that the gastric juice does, and some things 

 which it cannot do. Further, it has been shown that a dog 

 may live five years after complete excision of the stomach, 

 comport himself in all respects like a normal dog, and 

 when killed for autopsy show every organ in perfect health 

 (Czerny). Recently, too, the stomach has been excised in 

 man with a successful result. But if this is to be admitted 

 as evidence against the digestive function of the stomach, it 

 is just as good evidence against the bactericidal function, 

 particularly as it has in addition been shown that even 

 putrid flesh has no harmful effect on a dog after excision of 

 the stomach, any more than on a normal dog. And, indeed, 

 the reasoning is fallacious which assumes that what may 

 happen under abnormal conditions must happen when the 

 conditions are normal. For nothing is impressed more often 

 on the physiological observer than the extraordinary power of 

 adaptation, of making the best of everything, which the 

 animal organism possesses. Doubtless, a dog without a 

 stomach will use to the best advantage the digestive fluids 

 that remain to him ; and the pancreatic juice may be 

 adequate to the task of complete digestion. So, too, a man 

 from whom the surgeon has removed a kidney, or a testicle, 

 or a lobe of the thyroid gland, may be in no respect worse 

 off than the man who possesses a pair of these organs. 

 But what do we deduce from this ? Not, surely, that the 

 excised thyroid, or testicle, or kidney was useless, or the 

 gastric juice inactive, but that the organism has been able to 

 compensate itself for their loss. 



The lower end of the small intestine is not cut off by any 

 bacteria-proof barrier from the large intestine, in which 

 putrefaction is constantly going on. It has been actually 

 shown that small particles such as lycopodium spores, sus- 

 pended in water, soon reach the stomach when injected 

 into the rectum. So that micro-organisms may be able to 

 work their way above the ileo-csecal valve > even against the 



