192 PHYSIOLOGY CHAP. 



produced a delay in the systolic and diastolic rhythm ; stronger 

 solutions disorganised its course, and weakened its intensity ; 

 stronger solutions still were able to arrest it, or to incite anti- 

 peristaltic movements (Fig. 68). 



On injecting solutions of peptone (1-2 per cent), Ducceschi 

 obtained increased tonicity of the gastric walls, and reinforcement 

 of the movements proper to the several regions of the stomach. 



These and other effects of thermal and electrical stimuli on 

 the different parts of the stomach, led Ducceschi to conclude that 

 the excitability of the neuro-rnuscular apparatus of the stomach 

 did not merely vary quantitatively, but was also qualitatively 



FIG. 68. Tracing of rhythm in pyloric antrum, profoundly altered by excitation due to introduc 

 tion of HC1 solution. (Ducceschi.) At B, 40 c.c. 0.4 per cent HC1 were injected near the 

 exploring balloon. 



different and almost antagonistic in the region of the pyloric 

 antrum, as compared with other regions of the stomach. 



This important conclusion agrees perfectly with the results 

 arrived at by Openchowski and his school (1889) in their valuable 

 work on the innervation of the stomach, to which we shall refer 

 below. 



Ducceschi reconstructs the motor functions of the stomach, in 

 co-ordination with its digestive processes, as follows : The descent 

 of the food into the stomach produces distension of its muscular 

 coats, which determines the peristaltic movements in the region 

 of the cardia, fundus, and body of the stomach, while the secretion 

 of the gastric juices occurs at the same time with an increasing 

 degree of acidity. This factor again reinforces the movements, 

 and in proportion as the digestive process advances, the tonic and 

 partially motor action of the peptone is added to the motor action 



