ABSORPTION OF ALCOHOL FROM THE STOMACH. 161 



Inasmuch, however, as we have already seen, an increased amount 

 of an active gastric juice is produced by the alcohol, it is more 

 than probable that this makes up for any retardation in the pro- 

 teolytic processes. 



The great care with which these experiments of Chittenden 

 and his associates have been made seems to the writer to entitle 

 their conclusions to great consideration, which may be briefly 

 summed up in the statement that " gastric digestion in the broad- 

 est sense is not markedly varied under the influence of alcohol or 

 alcoholic fluids. This conclusion, it may be mentioned, stands in 

 perfect harmony with the results of the investigations of Zuntz 

 and Magnus-Lenz regarding the influence of alcohol (beer) on the 

 digestibility and utilization of food in the body. These investi- 

 gators found by a series of metabolic experiments on men with 

 diets largely made up of milk -and bread, and on individuals 

 accustomed and unaccustomed to the use of alcoholic beverages, 

 that the latter did not in any way diminish the utilization of the 

 food by the body/ 7 



Influence of Alcohol and Alcoholic Fluids upon the 

 Excretion of Uric Acid. Beebe has conducted a series of 

 experiments reported by Chittenden in the American Journal of 

 Physiology, with : 1, Absolute alcohol suitably diluted ; 2, whisky ; 

 3, beer ; and 4, port wine. The quantity used in twenty-four 

 hours represented between 75 and 80 c.c. of absolute alcohol. 

 The result was a marked increase in the uric-acid excretion, the 

 increase in most cases beginning in the second hour after the meal 

 and reaching its height at the fifth hour ; this increase was not due 

 to a hastening of the normal output, but was an actual increase in 

 the amount produced. The eifect, Chittenden believes, is doubtless 

 due to a disturbance in the metabolism of the purin-bases of the 

 food (p. 434). As already stated (p. 157) Hall has obtained purin- 

 bodies from beer and porter. 



Absorption of Alcohol from the Stomach. Chittenden's 

 experiments, in which 200 c.c. of 37 per cent, alcohol w r ere intro- 

 duced into the stomach of a dog with the duodenum ligated at 

 the pylorus, resulted in the complete disappearance of the alcohol 

 in 3-3^- hours by absorption through the stomach-walls into the 

 blood. When the intestine is open the absorption is more rapid. 

 When 6-8 grams of alcohol, as wine or beer, are taken into the 

 stomach, 80-90 per cent, will have disappeared from the aliment- 

 ary tract within 1 hour. In one of Chittenden's experiments 

 50 c.c. of 20 per cent, alcohol were absorbed within ^ hour. His 

 conclusion is that, " in view of this rapid disappearance of alcohol 

 from the alimentary tract, it is plain that alcoholic fluids cannot 

 have much, if any, direct influence upon the secretion of either 

 pancreatic or intestinal juice." 



We have seen that when alcohol is taken into the stomach it 

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