Gastro-Intestinal Motility. 



79 



47 ("") 



Effect of fatigue upon gastro-intestinal motility. 



By LUDWIG KAST. 



[From the New York Post Graduate Medical School.] 



On fifty-four patients and healthy individuals tests were made 

 regarding the motor power of the stomach and intestines by means 

 of X-ray examinations, and the stomach tube. In addition car- 

 mine was used for the determination of time during which same 

 was entirely eliminated from the body. The tested subjects were 

 kept on a standard diet for a number of days and the motor effi- 

 ciency of the stomach and intestines was determined repeatedly 

 by these methods. By taking the average, it was determined how 

 long it took the stomach, and separately, how long it took the 

 intestines, to propel the given amount of food. During the period 

 of tests, the amount of physical activity was regulated and the 

 mental activity approximately limited. Without any change of 

 diet and mental activity, the physical activity was markedly in- 

 creased or decreased and the effect of same upon the evacuating 

 power of the stomach or intestines observed. At other times, 

 without change in the diet or the amount of physical exercise, the 

 amount of mental efforts was markedly increased or decreased and 

 the effect observed in the same manner. Summarizing the results 

 of such experiments, it appears that the healthy individual showed 

 very little variation as regards the evacuating power of the stomach 

 or intestines as long as the physical exercise was not excessive. 

 Mental efforts had no perceptible effect. 



In patients with moderate and marked degrees of atony and 

 splanchnoptosis, the evacuating power of the stomach and in- 

 testines decreased in direct proportion to the amount of mental 

 and physical exertion. Physical exertion had the same effect in 

 such individuals if the patient was kept in a horizontal position 

 during these exercises and during the period of observation in 

 order to eliminate the effect of splanchnoptosis in the erect position. 

 In patients who clinically appeared susceptible to the effects of 

 fatigue, mental exertion was more marked in its delaying effect 

 than physical exertion. 



