OF ALCOHOL UPON DIGESTION. 115 



In the accompanying table the " time of digestion " of the 

 experiments preceding is given in hours. The experiments 

 marked a and ft are strictly comparable, as reference to the 

 protocols will show that they were carried out in succession 

 on the same day. 



From these results it is apparent that the time of digestion 

 in the stomach for the proteid test meal employed is not 

 greatly varied under the influence of alcohol. The results 

 obtained suggest, however, a tendency toward prolongation of 

 the period during which the meat remains in the stomach when 

 alcoholic fluids are present. This tendency is most noticeable 

 in the case of Dog A, and particularly in those experiments 

 which immediately succeed each other on the same day and 

 are therefore strictly comparable. The differences are too 

 small, however, to have any great significance. Retardation is 

 perhaps more marked with the malted beverages, and is 

 apparently out of proportion to the alcohol present. With 

 reference to the changes in the acidity of the stomach contents 

 a large number of observations disclose no specific differences 

 in the various digestions. The variations are common to all 

 the experiments. They include a gradual rise in total acidity 

 during approximately the first two hours of digestion, followed 

 by a gradual decrease until the stomach becomes empty ; at 

 this point free HC1 is absent. The combined HC1 increases 

 with the progress of digestion, the products of proteolysis com- 

 bining with relatively larger quantities of free acid.* Since 

 the secretion of acid is continually progressing in the stomach, 

 the percentage of free HC1 increases gradually in the course of 

 the digestion, likewise decreasing rapidly toward the end of this 

 process. In agreement with our previous statements relative 

 to the rather sudden discharge of the gastric contents into the 

 intestine (p. 106), an abrupt decline in acidity toward the end 

 of the digestion period was frequently observed. Evidence of 

 an " after period " of secretion was not obtained.! 



* Cf. Chittenden, Digestive Proteolysis, 1894, pp. 63 seq. 



t Cf . Gluzinski, Jahresbericht f . Thierchemie, 1886, xvi, p. 264 



