RESPIRATION IN THE ALIMENTARY CANAL. 
729 
stances, as is shown l>y the following table, which gives the results 
obtained by Ruge 1 from the analysis of the gas obtained from the 
rectum of the same man under different conditions: — 
1 . - 
Milk Diet. 
Vegetable Diet 
for 
Four Days. 
Animal Diet 
for 
Three Days. 
Oxygen .... 
Nitrogen 
3671 
18-96 
64-41 
Hydrogen 
54-23 
4-03 
0-69 
Marsh -gas 
55-94 
26-45 
Carbon dioxide 
9-06 
21-05 
8-45 
Hydrogen-sulphide 
Trace. 
The distribution of these gases in the different parts of the aliment- 
ary canal was examined by Tappeiner, 2 in the body of a criminal, who 
had been executed a short time before the examination was made. The 
following; are the results : — 
Gas. 
Stomach. 
Ileum. 
Colon. 
Rectum. 
Oxygen 
9-19 
1 
1 
67-71 
Nitrogen 
74-26 
7-46 
6276 
Hydrogen . 
0-08 
3-89 
8-46 
... 
Marsh-gas . 
0-16 
0-06 
0-90 
Carbon dioxide . 
16-31 
28-40 
91-92 
36-40 
Zuntz, Lehmann, and Hagemann 3 found in the gas drawn off from 
the intestine of a living horse about 22 per cent, carbon dioxide, 59 per 
cent, marsh-gas, and 2 - 5 per cent, hydrogen. 
These gases have several sources of origin. < Oxygen and nitrogen 
occur in the air swallowed ; hydrogen, marsh-gas, and carbon dioxide 
are formed by the fermentations which take place in the contents of 
the alimentary canal ; nitrogen and carbon dioxide, under certain 
conditions, diffuse from the tissues into the intestines, and carbon 
dioxide arises from the neutralisation of the sodium carbonate of the 
intestinal secretions. Further details on the origin of these gases will 
be found elsewhere ; 4 here it is necessary only to consider the part 
1 SUzwngsb. d. k. ATead. d. Wissensch., Wien, 1862, Bd. xliv. S. 739. 
2 Arb. a. d. path. Inst, zu Miinchen. Stuttgart, 1886, Bd. i. S. 226. See also Planer, 
Sitsungsb. d. k. Akad. d. Wissensch,., Wien, 1860, Bd. xlii. S. 307 ; Hofmann, Wien. med. 
Wehnschr., 1S72 : Tappeiner, Ztschr. f. physiol. Chem., Strassburg, 1882, Bd. vi. S. 432 ; 
Ztschr. f. Biol., Miinchen, 1883, Bd. xix. S. 228 ; 1884, Bd. xx. S. 52 ; Arb. a. J. path. 
Inst, zu Miinchen, Stuttgart, 1886, Bd. i. S. 215. 
3 Arch./. Physiol., Leipzig, 1894. S. 354. 
4 See " Chemistry of Digestion," this Text-book, vol. i. 
