288 PHILIP B. HAWK 



the water left the stomach. We may believe that the 500 c.c. of water 

 upon reaching the stomach at once stimulated the gastric glands to greater 

 activity, and caused the contents of the stomach to assume an acidity 

 of 19.0. Some time during the next ten minutes, i.e., ten to twenty 

 minutes after the water first reached the stomach, practically the entire 

 500 c.c. had passed into the intestine and left behind a gastric juice of 

 high acid concentration (111.5). That the stomach was practically 

 empty in from 10 to 20 minutes, as far as the original water was con- 

 cerned, is indicated by the uniform values obtained for acidity in the 

 samples withdrawn from the stomach during the next half hour. In 

 other words, we believe that the only acidity value which was influenced 

 by the factor of dilution was the acidity value of the ten minute sample. 

 Some time before the next specimen was taken the large volume of water 

 had passed into the intestine and our acidity value (111.5) represents 

 the true stimulatory power of the water unmasked by the factor of dilution. 

 This is an example of the hypersecretory type of stomach which we have 

 discussed in our publications (Kehfuss, Bergeim and Hawk(&)). 



Another illustration of a stomach which rapidly emptied after the 

 entrance of water is given in Fig. 4. Here we have an acidity of 80 

 developed in five minutes after the entrance of 100 c.c. of water into an 

 empty normal human stomach. Inasmuch as the acidity values did not 

 materially change during the next hour and forty minutes we feel safe 

 in interpreting the data as indicating a practically complete emptying of 

 the stomach inside of ten minutes. That water and other dietary fluids, 

 such as coffee and tea, do not delay the emptying time of the stomach, 

 when taken with food, has also been shown in the writer's laboratory 

 (Miller, Bergeim, Rehfuss, and Hawk). Four normal men were used 

 as subjects. The evacuation time after a standard mixed meal had been 

 eaten was first determined and in later tests the evacuation time of the 

 same meal plus a liter of water, coffee, or tea was studied. The data are 

 summarized in Fig. 9. 



Summarizing the various experiments which have been made to learn 

 the influence of water in the human stomach, we may conclude as follows : 

 The introduction of water immediately stimulates the gastric glands to 

 increased activity. In a few minutes, the bulk of the water so introduced 

 leaves the stomach and does not interfere with the evacuation of that 

 organ while its stimulatory action persists, causing the outpouring of a 

 highly active gastric juice which insures efficient gastric digestion. It is, 

 therefore, better to drink water with meals than between meals. If taken 

 between meals, we have the same stimulatory effect on gastric secretion, 

 but there is nothing in the stomach to digest, and we have thus a true 

 economic waste. A summary of the experiments on water drinking with 

 meals is contained in a publication by the writer (Hawk (e)). - 



