ON BODY METABOLISM IN CANCER, 491 



per cent. HCl aftei- one hour's digestion, while the latter gave an average 

 of 0"1837 per cent, after the same period. 



We have also had the special opportunity of examining fifteen single 

 stomachs from mice with spontaneous tumours, ■which showed an average 

 of 0-1929 per cent. HCl, also after one hour's digestion. 



Hence, comparing the secretion of HCl during definite and indefinite 

 periods of digestion in the stomachs of normal and ' cancer ' mice, we 

 found practically the same range of variations throughout, but with a 

 general tendency towards increase of HCl in the case of ' cancer ' 

 mice. 



The total number of experiments made, from which the averages 

 referi'ed to have been deduced, was about 150, involving from four to six 

 estimations in each experiment. 



These results are interesting not only as indicating that, chemically, the 

 digestive process in mice is largely comparable with that in the human 

 subject, but as confirming, and to some extent explaining, the observation 

 made by Dr. Bashford in 1905 as to the general absence of cachexia in 

 mice suffering from cancer. 



Now, inasmuch as recent extensive statistics collected by Dr. Bashfoi'd 

 from l-he various London hospitals have shown that cachexia, contrary 

 to the general belief, is not a constant accompaniment of cancer in man, 

 we might expect to find, in its absence, the same compensating influence 

 as regards increased secretion of HCl in human beings afflicted with this 

 disease. 



As regards this point, however, so far as indicated by recent investi- 

 gations, to which reference has previously been made, the opinion is 

 prevalent that the reverse obtains ; Moore, Palmer, and others having, 

 indeed, asserted that there is a marked diminution or even an absence of 

 HCl in the gastric secretion in malignant disease of organs other than 

 the stomach. 



These conclusions, however, have been mainly based on a determina- 

 tion of ' free ' HCl only, in the fluid withdrawn from the stomach after 

 the administration of so-called ' test meals ' ; but, as we have indicated, 

 such estimations alone may easily lead to fallacious conclusions. 



We felt that, inasmuch as our determinations of physiologically active 

 HCl in the gastric contents of mice seemed to be in contradiction to 

 results obtained in man as regards ' free' HCl, it was obviously necessary 

 to lepeat Moore's work, and at the same time, for purposes of comparison, 

 to carry out a parallel series of estimations, by the same method that he 

 had employed, in the work on mice. Examination was therefore made of 

 the gastric secretion in the human subject as represented by the fluid 

 withdrawn one hour after administration of a ' test meal ' to patients 

 sufl'ering from cancer, which material we have been able to obtain through 

 the courtesy of the surgeons to the Cancer, Middlesex, and Westminster 

 Hospitals. Estimations were made both of the physiologically active 

 hydrochloric acid by Volhard's method, as already described, and also, for 

 comparison, of the free HCl by the inversion of methyl-acetate — the 

 method employed by Moore and others. 



Sunuuarising these experiments, it was found that the estimations of 

 free HCl more or less agreed with those of Moore in his later experiments, 

 published in the ' Bio-Chemical Journal' (vol. i. p. 274), where he states 

 the average of thirteen cases of cancer as 0'0515 per cent. ; our average, 

 also for a series of thirteen cases, being O-OIOT per cent. Moore, however, in 



