STOMACHAL DIGESTION. 235 



found to exist between the stomach of a person who has 

 drunk and that of one who has not drunk while eating. 

 This is because along the anterior and posterior surfaces of 

 the stomach there run longitudinal fibres parallel to the 

 smaller curvature, situated at some distance from it, and 

 extending from one surface to the other, below the cardia 

 and the pylorus (Fig. 66). They thus form a sort of ellipti- 

 cal ring (cravate de suisse) or sphincter, which, as it con- 

 tracts, divides the stomach in two parts (Fig. 67) : namely, 

 the region of the greater curvature 

 (Fig. 67, S), hermetically closed: andthe 

 region of the smaller curvature, forming 

 a tube which leads from the cardia to the 

 pylorus; this canal (Fig. 67, L) is formed 

 at the time of the deglutition of fluids, 

 and these follow it; so that degluti- 

 tion may be said to continue from the 

 pharynx down to the duodenum with- FIg . 6 7.-A P pearance caused 

 out their properly entering the stomach blndfcravate^suisL)** 

 at all. 1 Thus, in a person presenting 



an abnormal communication of the duodenum with the 

 colon, the ingestion of a glass of water has been observed to 



1 See R. Larger, " Essai Critique et Expe'rimental sur les 

 Muscles Lisses en general et sur quelques-uns en particulier (Esto- 

 inac). These de Strasbourg, 1870, No. 262. 



P. 59: ** We have had the good fortune to witness the contrac- 

 tion of the oblique fibres of the stomach, which we have never 

 succeeded in producing artificially. The animal was a dog. We 

 found a tolerably deep groove, extending from the cardia to the 

 bend of the stomach, exactly in the path of the oblique fibres 

 (cravate de suisse) ; and, singularly enough, at the same time the 

 smaller curvature of the stomach curved outwards in a most 

 remarkable manner. This condition lasted for some time, and 

 then gradually ceased, but a few moments later the same phenom- 

 enon was reproduced. Another remarkable feature consists in the 

 relaxation of the circular fibres in that part situated above the 

 band of oblique fibres during the contraction of the lower part. 

 The tube which we saw formed was not complete in one respect, 

 that is, the two surfaces of the stomach were not united below 

 under the influence of the contraction of the oblique fibres. The 



* A, Vertical section of the stomach in the state of repose, m, m. Cravate 

 de siiisse. 



B, Contraction of these muscular bundles (m,m), drawing together the cor- 

 responding parts of the coat of the stomach, in the direction indicated by the 

 arrows, and thus dividing the cavity into two parts (S and L). 



