OF ALCOHOL UPON DIGESTION. 117 



DlSAPPEAEANCE OF ALCOHOL FROM THE STOMACH. ' 



It has long been known that alcohol disappears rapidly from 

 the alimentary canal, and even so early as 1847 Bouchardat 

 and Sandras stated that the absorption takes place from the 

 stomach especially.* More recent and conclusive experiments 

 in which the pylorus has been artificially closed, have demon- 

 strated with certainty that alcohol, in distinction from water, 

 is readily absorbed from the stomach, f Furthermore, many 

 substances like sugar, peptone, etc., are readily absorbed from 

 the stomach in the presence of alcohol, while their absorption 

 from the intestine is likewise accelerated by this substance.J 

 Thus an ordinary dose of chloral hydrate introduced in watery 

 solution into a stomach with ligated pylorus fails to bring 

 about narcosis ; if, however, a quantity of alcohol too small 

 of itself to produce any pharmacological action be present, 

 narcosis follows, just as when the open pylorus permits the 

 intestine to participate in the absorption. 



The complete disappearance of alcohol from the stomach 

 has been observed by us in a large number of experiments in 

 which the pylorus was ligated. The following results tabu- 

 lated from the experiments on secretion (pp. 88-99), demon- 

 strate this statement : 



The rapid discharge of watery or alcoholic fluids from the 

 stomach through the pylorus has already been referred to on 

 p. 105. The results are in harmony with those obtained by v. 

 Mering on dogs with duodenal fistulse.H In his experiments, 

 for example, 500 c.c. being administered to a large dog, 490 c.c. 

 were expelled through the pylorus hi twenty minutes. The 



* Bouchardat and Sandras, Annales de chimie et de physique, 1847, xxi, 

 3. Serie, p. 456. 



t Cf., for example, Tappeiner, Zeitschr. f. Biologic, 1881, xvi, p. 497; 

 Brandl, ibid., 1892, xxix, p. 277 ; v. Mering, Jahresbericht f. Thierchemie, 

 1893, xxiii, p. 293. 



t Cf., for example, J. v. Scanzoni, Zeitschr. f. Biologie, 1896, xxxiii, p. 462. 



Cf . also experiments with strychnine. Meltzer, Journ. of exper. medi- 

 cine, 1896, i, p. 529. 



|| v. Mering, quoted in Gamgee, Physiological chemistry, 1893, ii, pp. 

 441 seq. 



