126 STUDIES IN CLINICAL PHYSIOLOGY 



Walker Hall under these conditions show that the 

 normal amount of water can still be absorbed by the 

 short piece of rectum and sigmoid traversed by the 

 food ; the fseces are not too fluid. By comparing the 

 amount of water in the intestinal contents at the 

 ileocsecal valve and as passed naturally in man, 

 they conclude that the colon absorbs about lo to 

 20 per cent of water from the fseces. Bacteria 

 make up nearly half the weight of the fasces as 

 passed normally. Treves, Lane, and others have 

 excised almost the whole colon without the patient's 

 nutrition suffering. 



We conclude then that the colon is not a necessary 

 organ. If, however, a permanent artificial anus is 

 made in the ileum more than 12 to 18 inches away 

 from the ileocaecal valve, absorption is inadequate, 

 and the patient dies of starvation. 



Turning to the second question, it is scarcely 

 necessary to call attention to its very great 

 importance. If the colon cannot absorb a reasonable 

 quantity of foodstuffs, the whole theory of feeding 

 by nutrient enemata would collapse. 



In the experiments described above. Groves and 

 Walker Hall found that the absorption of nitrogen 

 and fat by the colon was so small as to be negligible. 

 Laidlaw and Ryffel, analysing the urine during rectal 

 feeding, found that the nitrogen output corresponded 

 pretty closely to the pubhshed figures for pro- 

 fessional fasting men at the same date of starvation ; 

 the enemata used were, however, not particularly 

 suitable, consisting of the whites of nine eggs, six 

 ounces of raw starch, and twenty-four ounces of 



