The results of this experiment are striking, and do not in any way resemble the secretion after normal feeding. Some kinds of food, for instance bread and coagulated white of the hen’s egg, when directly introduced into the stomach, do not yield a single drop of juice during the first hour or more afterwards. This holds good both for the small and large stomachs. When a glass rod is introduced into the food contained in the organ it remains dry. Flesh, if introduced at this stage, is able to excite a secretion, but the appearance of the juice is considerably retarded. It begins from fifteen to forty-five minutes after the feeding, instead of from six to ten, is under normal circumstances extremely scanty during the first hour (3 c.c. to 5 c.c. instead of 12 c.c. to 15 c.c.), and possesses a very low digestive power.
Here is an experiment by Dr. Lobassoff:
| 400 grms. of flesh were brought into the stomach. | ||
|---|---|---|
| Hour. | Quantity of juice. c.c. | Digestive power. mm. |
| 1st | 3.7 | 2.0 |
| 2nd | 10.6 | 1.63 |
| 3rd | 9.2 | 1.5 |
| 4th | 7.0 | 1.88 |
| 5th | 5.6 | 2.25 |
| 6th | 6.6 | 2.63 |
| 7th | 7.5 | 1.88 |
| 8th | 5.3 | 2.0 |
| 9th | 3.0 | 5.0 |
| 10th | 0.2 | — |
The secretion began twenty-five minutes after introducing the food. I now ask you to compare the following tables:
| Hour. | Fed with 200 grms. of flesh (Chigin). | Flesh (150 grms.) brought into stomach (Lobassoff). | Sham feeding (Lobassoff). | Total quantity of juice in two experiments | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Quantity of juice. | Digestive power. | Quantity of juice. | Digestive power. | Quantity of juice. | Digestive power. | |||
| c.c. | mm. | cc. | mm. | cc. | mm. | cc. | ||
| 1st | 12.4 | 5.43 | 5.0 | 2.5 | 7.7 | 6.4 | 12.7 | |
| 2nd | 13.5 | 3.63 | 7.8 | 2.75 | 4.5 | 5.3 | 12.3 | |
| 3rd | 7.5 | 3.5 | 6.4 | 3.75 | 0.6 | 5.75 | 7.0 | |
| 4th | 4.2 | 3.12 | 5.0 | 3.75 | — | — | 5.0 | |
The progress of juice secretion in the above is also represented in the following curves:
Figures 4-7.—A. Ordinary curve of gastric secretion (200 grms. flesh). B. Curve from direct introduction of food (150 grms. flesh). C. Sham feeding with same. D. Summation of B and C.
As you see, the curve which represents the results of the direct introduction of flesh ascends much more slowly and does not attain anything like the height of that caused by normal feeding with the same food. But if the quantities obtained by direct introduction of the flesh be added to those of sham feeding, the resulting curve is almost identical with the normal.
In like manner the digestive power of the secretion in the foregoing experiments can be dealt with, and with the same result. It is a good instance of how a secretion curve can be synthetically constructed from its constituent factors.