368 DISEASES OF THE GASTRO-INTESTINAL TRACT. 



The sloughs produced by sulphuric and hydrochloric acids 

 are dry and brittle, and ashy-gray in color, or black and 

 charred in extreme cases ; those of nitric acid are yellow. The 

 surrounding tissue is the seat of an intense hemorrhagic in- 

 flammation. The sloughs produced by the caustic alkalies 

 are not brittle but soft, and have somewhat the appearance of 

 a soft membrane. Phosphorus, arsenic, and antimony in large 

 doses produce more especially a fatty and mucoid degeneration 

 of the epithelial cells of the gastric tubules, resulting in an 

 opaque, yellowish-white appearance of the mucous membrane. 



CHRONIC GASTRITIS. 



The systematic clinical use of the stomach-tube for the pur- 

 pose of obtaining the gastric secretions for study, within recent 

 years, has thrown much light upon the pathological physiology 

 of digestion. And the microscopical examination of pieces of 

 the gastric mucosa found in the washings from the stomach 

 has added greatly to our knowledge of the anatomical lesions 

 associated with the well-defined fundamental types of chronic 

 gastritis recognized clinically. 



The character of the exciting cause seems to bear no relation 

 to the resulting lesion. Evidences of chronic gastritis are 

 found so frequently at autopsy that a terminal gastritis must 

 be looked upon as an almost constant accompaniment of the 

 final stages of all chronic diseases. 



More or less pronounced inflammatory changes are asso- 

 ciated with organic lesions of the stomach, as ulcer and cancer. 

 They are secondary also to dilatation and atony of the muscle- 

 walls, and the irritation produced by the resulting stagnation 

 of the stomach-contents and abnormal fermentations which 

 take place. In fact, the possible causes of gastritis are so 

 numerous that it is surprising a normal stomach should be 

 found after middle life. 



The most frequent causes of chronic gastritis as an inde- 

 pendent and primary affection of the stomach are dietetic 

 not only improper food, but improper methods of eating it; 

 bolting the food, with insufficient mastication, and large 

 draughts of liquid which are often unduly hot or cold ; the 

 excessive use of condiments, etc. 



