SECTION IV. 



DISEASES OF THE STOMACH. 



OHAPTEE I. 



ACUTE CATARRHAL INFLAMMATION OF THE MUCOUS MEMBRANE OP 

 THE STOMACH ACUTE GASTRIC CATARRH. 



ETIOLOGY. During normal digestion changes occur in the gastric 

 mucous membrane, which, if found in other mucous membranes, would 

 be called catarrh. The secretion of the gastric juice is always accom- 

 panied by considerable hypersemia of the mucous membrane, which is 

 regularly followed by an abundant flow of mucus, and a considerable 

 detachment of epithelium. This physiological process, like the analo 

 gous pathological one, is accompanied by a slight general disturbance, 

 the so-called digestive fever. Hence, the definition, that we have given 

 for catarrh of mucous membranes generally, does not answer for gas- 

 tric catarrh ; what in them is pathological is here normal, and we can 

 only speak of gastric catarrh when the physiological process increases 

 beyond normal bounds. It will be readily understood that, as the act 

 of digestion is repeated several times during the day, and our food is 

 complicated and sometimes of improper character, the process may 

 readily become abnormal ; hence, as may easily be conceived, acute 

 gastric catarrh is one of the most frequent of diseases. On the other 

 hand, it is just as evident that a morbid augmentation of normal pro- 

 cesses may subside more readily and quickly than other more material 

 deviations from the normal state. Hence, under favorable circum- 

 stances, gastric catarrh usually lasts a shorter time than that of other 

 mucous membranes. 



The predisposition to this affection varies with the individual ; in 

 some persons it is induced by exciting causes, which would have no 

 effect on others. In many cases increased predisposition to gastric 

 catarrh depends on too scanty a secretion of gastric juice, as this favora 

 abnormal decomposition in the stomach, which is the most frequent 



