Septembee 10, 1920] 



SCIENCE 



253 



tached at O is omitted from the drawing in 

 order to show parts otherwise concealed. 



The essential parts are the platform and 

 shelf. The platform. A, which measures 9f 

 by 7 inches is supported on legs having level- 

 ing screws, B, and has a portion cut out, 0, 

 on the longer side similar in form to the 

 open space between the sides of the horseshoe 

 base of a microscope. This opening is to 

 admit light from an ordinary microscope 

 mirror suspended beneath the stand by a 

 jointed arm, J, allowing lateral motion and 

 which is in turn attached to a horizontal rod 

 sliding back and forward in a tube on the 

 under surface of the platform. On the front 

 edge of the platform bridging the light open- 

 ing is the shelf, E, supported by two pillars, D. 

 The dissecting apparatus is clamped to this 

 shelf by the screw, F. The microscope may 

 be firmly secured to the platform by the 

 clamps, H, and holes are drilled in the plat- 

 form to accommodate various positions of the 

 microscope, but frequently the use of the 

 clamps is unnecessary. 



Dr. Chambers has suggested that I call at- 

 tention to a useful improvement of his own 

 dissecting apparatus introduced by E. A. 

 Thompson, of Amherst, Mass. Fine springs 

 placed around the screws which move the 

 needle carriage as at I in the figure prevent 

 lost motion and thus steady the initial motion 

 of the needle which is a marked advantage in 

 the finer work. 



H. B. Goodrich 



WESLETAN TjNrVERSITT 



GASTRIC RESPONSE TO FOODS' 



IX. THE INFLUENCE OP WORRY ON GASTRIC 

 DIGESTION 



The study of the influence of emotional 

 strain on digestion in man offers some diffi- 

 ctdties due to the fact that the emotions can 

 not be readily controlled, nor are the subjects 

 of extreme emotion readily amenable to ex- 

 perimentation. We were, however, able to 

 obtain an interesting illustration of the pro- 



1 The expenses of this investigation were de- 

 fitayed by funds furnished by Mrs. M. H. Hender- 



foimd effect of mental anxiety on gastric 

 digestion in the case of a first-year medical 

 student who had previously served as a sub- 

 ject of gastric tests and whose stomach had 

 been found entirely normal. This man was 

 given one hundred grams of fried chicken 

 on the morning of an important examination 

 in chemistry, and was asked to write out hia 

 answers during the course of the test. He 

 was plainly worried over the outcome of the 

 examination and of his year's work. The 

 resultant effect upon gastric digestion in pro- 

 longing evacuation for over two hours, with 

 high intra-gastric acidity is charted in the 

 figure. The same chart gives the normal 



Case li^ -Kie. ■.^gamcnaiLOh 



Fig. 1. 



digestion curve for fried chicken on this sub- 

 ject as obtained a week later under the best 

 mental conditions. 



The experiments were carried out by with- 

 drawing samples from the stomach of the 

 subject with the Rehfuss stomach tube at 

 fifteen-minute intervals imtil the stomach was 

 empty. The specimens were analyzed for 

 total acidity and free hydrochloric acid and 

 results expressed as c.c. of N/10 alkali re- 

 quired to neutralize 100 c.c. of sample.* 



2 Fishback, Smith, Bergeim, Lichtenthaeler, Reh- 

 fuss and Hawk, Am. Jour. Physiol., 1919, XLIX., 

 174, and later communications. 



