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P. 333
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COMPLAINTS OF THE DIGESTIVE TRACT. 305
tents of the stomach were evacuated and placed in the incubator
under exclusion of air-germs. Three hours later, by means of
plate-cultures, I found three kinds of bacteria, and ten hours
later one kind. Xot till after the lapse of fourteen hours were
all bacteria missing. The fact that a bacterium in an artificial
gastric juice (containing 0.2 per cent. HCl) may lose its \dtality in
a short time, is no proof that it may not safely pass through the
stomach, because
" 1. The microbes which are swallowed at the beo^innino- of a
meal do not pass into a stomach filled with gastric juice, but
into an empty stomach having a neutral or alkaline reaction,
where free hydrochloric acid, in detectable quantities, does not
appear until after the lapse of one-half to one and one-half
hours.
" 2. The micro-organisms are often imbedded in solid particles
of food, thus escaping for a while the action of the juice.
" 3. Liquid substances do not remain long in the stomach, but
soon pass into the duodenum, and carry with them the bacteria
before any considerable quantity of gastric juice has been se-
creted. In a case of fistula in the upper part of the duodenum,
Busch saw the first portions of food appear fifteen or twenty
minutes after the beginning of the meal (licL Hoppe-Seyler,
' Phys. Chem.,' page 326). In case of soft liquid food, the transit
may begin still sooner. The experiments of Watson Cheyne,
and others, in connection with this subject, do not appear to
me to be conclusive, because made under conditions too unlike
those actually present in the stomach. Cheyne added material
containing micro-organisms to a comparatively large quantity of
artificial gastric juice, and observed that they were destroyed
in a short time, ^uch experiments simply show that the normal
gastric juice has antiseptic properties sufficiently strong to
devitalize certain bacteria within a certain time. They give us,
however, very little information as to the real occurrences in the
stomach itself.
" In order to reproduce as nearly as possible the conditions
present in the normal stomach, I chewed up a quantity of bread
and meat, added a small quantity of hquid (milk), and divided
the mixture into portions of 26.0 cc. each. These portions were
20
COMPLAINTS OF THE DIGESTIVE TRACT. 305
tents of the stomach were evacuated and placed in the incubator
under exclusion of air-germs. Three hours later, by means of
plate-cultures, I found three kinds of bacteria, and ten hours
later one kind. Xot till after the lapse of fourteen hours were
all bacteria missing. The fact that a bacterium in an artificial
gastric juice (containing 0.2 per cent. HCl) may lose its \dtality in
a short time, is no proof that it may not safely pass through the
stomach, because
" 1. The microbes which are swallowed at the beo^innino- of a
meal do not pass into a stomach filled with gastric juice, but
into an empty stomach having a neutral or alkaline reaction,
where free hydrochloric acid, in detectable quantities, does not
appear until after the lapse of one-half to one and one-half
hours.
" 2. The micro-organisms are often imbedded in solid particles
of food, thus escaping for a while the action of the juice.
" 3. Liquid substances do not remain long in the stomach, but
soon pass into the duodenum, and carry with them the bacteria
before any considerable quantity of gastric juice has been se-
creted. In a case of fistula in the upper part of the duodenum,
Busch saw the first portions of food appear fifteen or twenty
minutes after the beginning of the meal (licL Hoppe-Seyler,
' Phys. Chem.,' page 326). In case of soft liquid food, the transit
may begin still sooner. The experiments of Watson Cheyne,
and others, in connection with this subject, do not appear to
me to be conclusive, because made under conditions too unlike
those actually present in the stomach. Cheyne added material
containing micro-organisms to a comparatively large quantity of
artificial gastric juice, and observed that they were destroyed
in a short time, ^uch experiments simply show that the normal
gastric juice has antiseptic properties sufficiently strong to
devitalize certain bacteria within a certain time. They give us,
however, very little information as to the real occurrences in the
stomach itself.
" In order to reproduce as nearly as possible the conditions
present in the normal stomach, I chewed up a quantity of bread
and meat, added a small quantity of hquid (milk), and divided
the mixture into portions of 26.0 cc. each. These portions were
20
