iv DIGESTION IN THE INTESTINE 23*7 



and histological data, i.e. that both rate and force of the in- 

 testinal movements diminish regularly from duodenum to jejunum, 

 from jejunum to ileum. 



The data as regards frequency and amplitude of the intestinal 

 movements in the opposite physiological states of sleep and waking, 

 fasting and digestion, agree fairly well. During sleep the motions, 

 such at least as are peristaltic, are much retarded or entirely 

 suspended. There is little difficulty in demonstrating this fact in 

 persons whose abdominal walls are thin owing to absence of 

 adipose tissue, or better in women who, as the result of previous 

 pregnancy, exhibit the so-called diastasis recti, along the linea 

 alba abdominalis. The observations of Busch upon the case above 

 referred to of fistula of the upper part of the jejunum, deserve 

 special consideration, because from the extreme tenuity of the 

 walls and the flattening of the abdomen of the patient, the move- 

 ments of the intestine were not merely palpable to the touch, but 

 could be seen as a progressive rise and fall of the abdominal wall. 

 During the greater part of the night all intestinal movement 

 ceased. During the day Busch noted periods of repose and 

 periods of intestinal activity, but with no regularity of rhythm 

 or duration. If the intestines were at rest before a meal, no 

 movement appeared immediately after,- but there might be a delay 

 of 10 or more minutes. On the other hand, long periods of 

 intestinal motor activity were not infrequently seen in the 

 fasting state, without any obvious reason. 



In non-anaesthetised rabbits immersed in a bath of saline at 

 body temperature, the greater part of the intestine usually 

 remained at" rest, the duodenum and jejunum alone exhibiting 

 movements with an irregular rhythm. In this connection it 

 should be noted that, according to Pal (1890), the mere fact of 

 opening the abdomen suffices to determine reflex inhibition of the 

 intestinal movements. 



These movements apparently become more vigorous and ample 

 during the outpouring of the digestive secretions, and of bile in 

 particular. According to Schiipbach (1907), however, bile has 

 no accelerating influence on^a bolus introduced into a Vella's loop 

 by the method indicated by Fubini. Eckhard, too, denies that 

 bile introduced into a coil of intestine in a rabbit immersed in 

 van . Braam-Houckgeest's bath has any accelerating effect on the 

 peristaltic motions. At times, however, without any apparent 

 reason, there is, now in one part of the small intestine, now in 

 another, a disappearance or reappearance of peristaltic motion, 

 which may assume the vigour and amplitude of the roll move- 

 ments described above. Generally speaking, it may be said that 

 the movements are both more frequent and more rapid in the 

 small than in the large intestine, and more lively and ample in the 

 duodenum and jejunum than in the ileum ; the former have a more 



