OF ALCOHOL UPON DIGESTION. 



91 



The results of the foregoing experiments, expressed in 

 percentages, are combined in the following table. 



A glance at the data presented leaves little doubt as to the 

 pronounced stimulating action of pure ethyl alcohol upon 

 gastric secretion, even with solutions of only five per cent 

 strength. The effect is not merely one characterized by the 

 discharge of water into the stomach cavity, but gives evidence 

 of a true secretory process. Thus, the volume of fluid found 

 after introduction of water into the stomach is not increased, 

 there being rather a tendency in the opposite direction. 

 Edkins,* v. Mering,f and others have shown that the absorp- 

 tion of water from the stomach is practically nil, while the 



* Edkins, Journal of physiology, 1892, xiii, p. 445. 



t v. Mering, Verhandlungen des XII. Congresses f. innere Medicin, Wiea- 

 baden, 1893 ; Therapeutische Monatshefte, 1893, vii, p. 201. 



