OF ALCOHOL UPON DIGESTION. 83 



Experiments of the character indicated by these protocols 

 were carried out with alcohol in varying doses, whisky, 

 brandy, and wine, and control experiments with water were 

 also made. In attempting to interpret the analytical data 

 thus obtained in experiments extending over several hours it 

 is necessary to bear in mind facts regarding salivary secretion 

 which seem to be sufficiently established. Ludwig * showed 

 that the submaxillary saliva secreted during stimulation of the 

 chorda tympani undergoes a change in composition varying 

 with the duration of the flow, the content of organic solids 

 decreasing in far greater degree than the dissolved salts. 

 Heidenhain f found that the percentage of salts in the saliva 

 varies directly with the rate of secretion, quite independently 

 of the state of the gland, the organic constituents, however, 

 being influenced by the condition of the secreting organ as 

 well as by the strength of stimulus and resulting rate of secre- 

 tion. These observations, verified by Werther $ and by 

 Langley and Fletcher, have been extended by the latter 

 investigators, who formulated the opinion that " the secretion 

 of organic substances depends wholly, or almost wholly, upon 

 the strength of the stimulus, whilst the secretion of water and 

 of salts depends also upon the amount of blood flowing through 

 the gland." || In view of the well-known fact that changes in 

 the strength of the stimulus immediately bring about a change 

 in both rate of secretion and composition of the saliva, we 

 have attempted to maintain a constant stimulus throughout 

 each series of observations by selecting some satisfactory 

 distance of the secondary coil of the inductorium and by 

 applying the electrodes as uniformly as possible. Owing to 

 the gradual decline in the irritability of the exposed nerve, 

 the impossibility of applying the electrodes constantly in 

 one position, and other unavoidable difficulties, ideal results 

 cannot be obtained. However, the difficulties were present in 



* Ludwig and Becher, Zeitschr. f. rat. Med., 1851, N. F. i, p. 278. Cf. also 

 Heidenhain, Hermann's Handbuch der Physiologic, v, pp. 47-49. 

 t Heidenhain, Archiv fur die ges. Physiol., 1878, xyii, p. 4 and 6. 

 J Werther, Archir f. d. ges. Physiol., 1886, xxxviii, p. 293. 

 Langley and Fletcher, loc. cit., p. 152. || Ibid., p. 132. 



