OF ALCOHOL UPON DIGESTION. 101 



solid matter, and in harmony with this fact the proportion of 

 combined hydrochloric acid was increased, which in turn 

 suggests the presence of a somewhat larger amount of proteid 

 or other like matter. The fluids were repeatedly tested with 

 boiled fibrin for proteolytic action, and this was always found 

 vigorous. In the experiments in which alcohol was introduced 

 directly into the intestine (Experiments XI, XII, p. 93), the 

 intestinal lining was not abnormal in appearance, the reaction 

 being alkaline to litmus hi the upper duodenum and neutral or 

 faintly alkaline further along the alimentary canal. This 

 corresponds with the observations on the normal reaction of 

 the intestinal contents of the dog, by Moore and Rockwood,* 

 whose statements we have repeatedly verified. 



GASTEIC DIGESTION. 



Since chemical, mechanical, and physiological processes go 

 on side by side during digestion, we have carried out a series 

 of experiments to determine in what way and to what extent 

 the factors already investigated combine or cooperate under the 

 influence of alcohol and alcoholic liquors. Our method has 

 included the examination of the stomach contents after test 

 meals were given. The statements current in the literature 

 on this subject are by no means concordant. 



In experiments on a woman having a gastric fistula Kretschy f 

 observed that alcohol retarded digestion. Buchner J found that 

 in the human stomach alcohol, wine, and beer all retarded 

 digestion, though not so markedly as in artificial digestion. 

 Bikfalvi, in observations on dogs, obtained a retardation of 

 digestion with even small quantities of alcohol. Beer and 

 wine showed no favorable influence, the latter even retarding 

 digestion when given in large quantities. Ogata || states that 



* Moore and Rockwood : Journal of Physiology, 1897, xxi, p. 373. 



t Kretschy : Deutsches Arch, f . klin. Med., xviii, p. 527 ; Jahresbericht f . 

 Thierchemie, 1876, vi, p. 173. 



t Buchner : Deutsches Arch, f . klin. Med., xxix, p. 537 ; Jahresbericht f. 

 Thierchemie, 1881, xi, p. 286. 



Bikfalvi : Jahresbericht f . Thierchemie, 1885, xv, p. 273. 



|| Ogita : Jahresbericht f . Thierchemie, 1885, xv, p. 274 ; Arch. f. Hygien^ 

 1885, iii, p. 204. 



