106 



A STUDY OF THE INFLUENCE 



subject.* Alcoholic fluids or water were introduced slightly 

 wanned f into the stomach through the fistula, since dogs 

 usually refuse to take the former by way of the mouth. At 

 definite intervals of one-quarter to one-half hour, small quanti- 

 ties of gastric contents were permitted to flow out of the 

 fistula. Total acidity (expressed as HC1), free and loosely 

 combined HC1, were determined by the method already de- 

 scribed. The process of digestion in the stomach lasted, under 

 the conditions described, about three hours, the average dura- 

 tion varying somewhat with the animaLJ There was no very 

 gradual diminution of undissolved meat particles noticeable 

 until toward the end of this period, when the stomach very 

 soon became empty. This corresponds with the observations 

 of Kiihne on man and the dog, in experiments with duodenal 

 fistulae. This investigator found only a slight disappearance 

 of contents from the stomach until near the end of the diges- 

 tion period, when the great bulk of material, excepting larger 

 pieces of food, was discharged at once through the pylorus. 

 Richet arrived at similar conclusions in experiments on man.|| 

 We have usually observed a complete emptying of the stomach 

 within a period of thirty minutes ; the conclusion of this pro- 

 cess is designated in the notes as the " end of gastric digestion." 

 Protocols of experiments follow. 



ANALYSES OF ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES USED. 



T. Jaksch : loc. cit., p. 192. t Cf. note 1, p. 87. 



\ In experiments on a man, with a similar meal, Jessen found the diges- 

 tion time equalled 2 to 3 hours. Zeitschr. f . Biologic, 1883, xix, p. 149. 

 Kiihne : Lehrbuch der physiol. Chemie, 1868, p. 63. 

 II Richet : Quoted in Gamgee, Physiological Chemistry, 1893, ii, p. 169. 



