Influence of Glycerin on Gastric Secretion. 37 



alone. Three years ago I observed this experimentally in the 

 Laboratory of the Pathological Institute of Berlin, and last year 

 it was confirmed by Rodari. In experiments with stronger con- 

 centrations of glycerin, especially if allowed to enter the duodenum, 

 the gastric secretion which follows is less than after pure water. 

 Glycerin furthermore not only reduces the gastric secretion incited 

 by water, but inhibits even a subsequent secretion of the stomach 

 provoked by sham-feeding. This I have observed in an experi- 

 ment on a dog with sham-feeding ; the influence of glycerin on the 

 human stomach does not appear to have been the subject of study. 



Up to the present I have examined the influence of glycerin 

 on gastric secretion in twenty-one patients, some of whom suf- 

 fered from gastric disturbances, some from other affections, and 

 from this material I have collected the results of seventy-two 

 experiments. The patient received a simple test breakfast, and 

 subsequently, under otherwise identical conditions, a similar test 

 breakfast with the addition of from 30 to 45 cubic centimeters of 

 glycerin. The two test meals were administered either on the 

 same day or on different days, and when the former method was 

 employed, at least four examinations were made ; one day the 

 simple test meal was given first and the other day the glycerin 

 test meal was given first. Of these twenty-one patients sixteen 

 showed a diminished total acidity after glycerin of from 3 to 50 

 percent, of their acidity ; in four patients the results were irregular ; 

 and in one patient there was only an increased secretion of hydro- 

 chloric acid after the ingestion of glycerin. 



It may, therefore, be assumed that glycerin reduces gastric 

 secretion in the majority of cases, and this was especially notice- 

 able in cases with subjective or objective signs of hyperacidity. 



Pawlow has demonstrated that neutral fat reduces both the 

 motility and the secretion of the stomach. Possibly neutral fat, 

 as such, does inhibit the secretion, but it is also possible that a 

 cleavage product of the fat may have the same effect. If such is 

 the case — and it has been shown that the stomach splits fat into 

 fatty acids and glycerin to some extent — then the glycerin com- 

 ponent is the inhibiting factor, because, according to Pawlow, soaps 

 and fatty acids excite the gastric secretion from the duodenum. 

 Should my experiments be confirmed glycerin would have to be 



