OF ALCOHOL UPON DIGESTION. 85 



of determinations of the alkalinity of the saliva (towards 

 lacmoid) likewise failed to show any constant relations. It is 

 interesting in this connection to note that the submaxillary 

 saliva of the dog was always found alkaline to phenol- 

 phthalein, litmus, lacmoid, and methylorange. Mixed human 

 saliva, like the bile of a number of animals, is almost always 

 acid toward phenolphthalein.* 



GASTRIC SECRETION. 



It has already been pointed out that in an accurate and 

 complete study of the influence of alcohol and alcoholic drinks 

 upon gastric digestion, no single line of experimentation can 

 lead to full and concise results covering the whole ground of 

 inquiry. It was therefore deemed advisable, for experimental 

 purposes, to study the subject under several distinct heads, 

 as (1) the influence of alcohol and alcoholic drinks upon 

 the process of secretion; (2) upon the processes of absorp- 

 tion ; (3) upon the motor functions of the alimentary canal ; 

 and (4) upon the purely chemical processes of gastric diges- 

 tion. The last phase has already been considered at some 

 length.f 



The older announcements regarding the influence of alcohol 

 are summarized hi the statement that it is a strong stimulant 

 of gastric secretion, and alcohol is recommended as a means 

 of obtaining gastric juice from fistulse in animals, f Larger 

 doses are regarded as detrimental to the stomach, giving rise 

 to transudation of alkaline fluid, a process evidently path- 

 ological^ Gluzinski || found in experiments on man with 

 brandy and dilute alcohol that these liquors gave rise, after 



* Chittenden, The Reactions of some Animal Fluids. Science, N. S., v, 

 p. 902. 



t Chittenden and Mendel, loc. cit. 



t Cf. Frerichs, Wagner's Handworterbuch der Physiologic, 1846, iii (1), p. 

 788; Kiihne, Lehrbuch, pp. 28, 30; Heidenhain, Hermann's Handbuch der 

 Physiologic, v, p. 115. 



Cf. Heidenhain, loc. cit. ; Lauder Brunton, Disorders of digestion, 1886, 

 p. 144. 



|| Gluzinski, Deutsches Archiv f. klin. Med., 1886, xxxix, p. 405. See 

 Jahresbericht fiir Thierchemie, 1886, xvi, p. 263. 



