Peristaltic Activity 



525 



pass through the intestinal tract will depend upon peristaltic 

 activity, the secretions, the frequency of evacuations and the 

 amount of material ahead of it. In constipation the time will 

 be lengthened and in diarrhea it will be shortened. 



The test consists in giving 50-70 miligrams to 1 grain) 

 of Sudan III in a gelatin capsule, just before, or after, a meal. 

 One or two grams of the feces from the subsequent evacuations 

 are taken and dried. A record should be kept of the time of 

 administration of the dye and of the evacuations which follow. 

 After drying, the material is extracted with ether. The extract 

 from the first feces passed (before the dye appears) is used as a 

 control. Its color is usually greenish yellow or light brown. 

 Later evacuations, depending on conditions, begin to show a red 

 color. If the tests be continued long enough, the maximum 

 red color will be obtained which will decrease, in later evacua- 

 tions, until the normal color is again reached. 



Three experiments upon the same individual gave the first ap- 

 pearance of the dye in 17, 15 and 2$y 2 hours respectively. The 

 maximum color was obtained in 17, 38j^ and 51 hours. The 

 return to a normal color occurred after S2y 2 hours (4 evacua- 

 tions), 65 hours (6 evacuations), and 73 hours (5 evacua- 

 tions). 



In another experiment, in which the subject had diarrhea, the 

 dye appeared in the excreta Ay 2 hours after it was administered. 

 The first evacuation occurred 15 minutes after the dye had been 

 taken and was used as the control. The maximum color was 

 reached in about 11^ hours and the normal color was reached 

 in about 48^4 hours (7 evacuations). 



Seventy milligrams of the dye were given to a poodle dog just 

 after his bowels had moved. There was another evacuation 3%. 

 hours later, just before the animal was killed. The postmortem 

 showed that the small intestines were practically empty except 

 at the ileum, near the cecum. The large intestine contained a 

 fair amount of material. Samples of the contents were taken 

 from the stomach and at 30 centimeter (1 foot) intervals along 

 the intestinal tract. A satisfactory test was obtained from the 

 gastric contents, showing that a fair proportion of the dye was 

 still present. The samples from the small intestine showed only 

 faint reactions because of the scanty amount of material present 

 — that from the duodenum was practically colorless. The sam- 

 ple from the ileum gave a good reaction because of the increased 



