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PHILIP B. HAWK 



stomach is illust rated in Fig. 0. It will be observed that the gastric 

 acidity was developed a little more quickly in the case of meat extract, and 

 the stomach emptied a little more rapidly, but that the general stimulatory 

 response was very similar to that of water. Fig. 7 shows the com- 

 parative stimulation produced by water and coffee. Here again it will 

 be observed that the response is very similar in the two cases. The above 

 protocols give emphasis to the belief that the stimulation produced in the 

 stomach by aqueous solutions of various kinds is due many times in large 

 part to the water alone. 



That water may sometimes stimulate the stomach fully as much as 

 certain common foods is illustrated in Fig. 8. Here we have a direct 



comparison with oatmeal, a 

 good standard food, and it 

 will be noted that water ex- 

 erted a greater stimulation 

 than the food in question. 



That Pavlov's claim, 

 based on animal tests, that 

 water stimulates gastric se- 

 cretion only when there is 

 "widespread and prolonged" 

 contact with the gastric mu- 

 cosa, does not hold, for the 

 human stomach has been 

 demonstrated repeatedly in 

 our work. Pronounced gas- 

 tric stirmilation with high 

 acid values and rapid stom- 

 ach evacuation have been 



Fig. 7. Curves showing comparative stimulatory 

 power of water and coffee in the human 

 stoniach. (Fowler, Rehfuss and Hawk; un- 

 published data.) 



obtained after the introduc- 

 tion of as small a volume as 

 25 to 50 c.c. of water into a 

 normal human stomach. 

 Passage of Water from the Stomach. If water remained in the 

 stomach for long periods of time after its ingestion, there might be some 

 argument against its free use with meals. However, there is abundant 

 evidence that it leaves very rapidly (Cohnheim(a), Grutzner(a) (Z>), 1902, 

 1905, Grobbels, Kaufmann, Leconte, Scheunert, Gabrilowitch). Griitz- 

 ner says: 



"Massiges Get rank wahrend der Mahlzeit stort sicherlich die Tatigkeit 



des gesunden Magens in keiner Weise, wie man vielfaeh angenommen hat." 



Leconte, who fed two dogs normally, 2 hours later gave one of them 



water, and 15 minutes later examined the stomach contents of both 



animals. He found scarcely any difference between the two, the water 



