A FURTHER STUDY OF THE INFLUENCE OF ALCO- 

 HOL AND ALCOHOLIC DRINKS UPON DIGESTION, 

 WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO SECRETION.* 



BY K. H. CHITTENDEN, LAFAYETTE B. MENDEL AND 

 HOLMES C. JACKSON.f 



IN a previous paper $ on the " Influence of Alcohol and 

 Alcoholic Drinks upon the Chemical Processes of Digestion " 

 it was carefully pointed out that any complete and satis- 

 factory answer to the question "How do alcoholic fluids 

 affect digestion?" cannot be obtained by any single line of 

 experimentation, since the rate and extent of digestion may 

 be modified in a variety of ways and through a variety of 

 channels. Thus, due consideration must be given not only 

 to the direct influence of alcoholic fluids upon the solvent or 

 digestive power of the several digestive juices, but heed must 

 also be given to the quantitative and qualitative modifications 

 which the secretions themselves may undergo, as well as to 

 variations in the rate of absorption and to the possible inter- 

 action of these and other factors. In our earlier paper, the 

 data presented threw light only upon the character and 

 extent of the influence exerted by various alcoholic fluids 

 upon the purely chemical processes of digestion, i. e., upon 

 amylolysis and proteolysis. In the continuation of these 

 studies during the past year our efforts have been directed 

 mainly to acquiring a fuller knowledge of the action of 

 alcoholic beverages upon secretion ; and in so doing new data 



* Being a statement of some research work done for the Committee of 

 Fifty for the Investigation of the Liquor Problem, and to be regarded as a 

 preliminary report, contributing facts upon which a general discussion may 

 in the future be undertaken by the Committee as a whole. 



t Reprinted from the American Journal of Physiology, vol. i. 



J Chittenden and Mendel, American Journal of the Medical Sciences. 

 1896. January-April. 



