Scientific Proceedings. 



4i 



my communication was to demonstrate a dog drinking in a perfectly 

 normal manner, although a large section of its path of deglutition zvas 

 deprived of all muscle fibers. In a number of dogs I have com- 

 pletely removed the muscularis from the entire cervical esophagus. 

 Already on the next day after the operation they drank milk and 

 water like normal dogs. In these cases there were no muscle 

 fibers for quite a long distance to do the slow work of pushing the 

 liquids into the thoracic esophagus. They were apparently squirted 

 through the cervical esophagus by a muscular force located anteri- 

 orly to the esophagus. That this force is not due to the constrictors 

 of the pharynx was demonstrated by another experiment. In one 

 dog, besides the removal of the esophageal muscularis, the middle 

 and lower constrictors of the pharynx were cut and completely put 

 out of function. This dog, also, drank without any difficulty the 

 day after the operation. The throwing force is apparently exer- 

 cised by the muscles of the mouth and tongue. 



I wish to call attention to another point. Recently again it was 

 claimed that liquids go down the esophagus by the force of gravity. 

 No experiments were offered in proof of that contention but it had 

 the support of the authority of Von Mickulicz. In my demon- 

 stration the bowl of milk was placed on the floor and the large 

 dogs that had been operated on drank from it against gravity 

 without any difficulty. 



I would call attention to another matter which has been over- 

 looked by some writers. We have established the fact, and it is 

 easily demonstrated, that each act of swallowing inhibits the peris- 

 talsis relating to the preceding deglutition, and when swallows follow 

 one another at intervals of one second there is no peristalsis in the 

 esophagus until after the last swallow. Dogs drink very rapidly, 

 and can take 200 cc. and more without stopping. Where then is 

 the peristalsis even in normal dogs to carry down such a large quan- 

 tity of liquid ? Does the latter simply accumulate in the pharynx 

 and the upper part of the esophagus until the last swallow ? 



Finally I wish to say that the essential part of our problem is the 

 establishment of the theory as it was originated by Kronecker, viz., 

 that besides the slow transportation of food by peristalsis, the function 

 of deglutition is provided with a mechanism for a rapid squirting 

 down of appropriate materials. As to which of the mechanisms 



