Observations of the Gastric Secretion in Dogs

Several kinds of food-stuffs used in this country, with beef, bread and milk, which were well tested especially by Russian investigators, were given to the dogs provided with the stomach pouch of Pavlov in the amount corresponding to one third of the basal metabolism per diem r_??_ the fuel value. Four dogs were used. Dog M secreted much, Dogs Neo and N little, and Dog B intermediately, generally speaking. It is needless to say that the size of the small stomach might have a great bearing upon the amount of secretion, and the integrity of the secretory nervous fibres also. Our dogs were all well nourished. That likes and dislikes have also a significant bearing upon the scale of secretion is visible in the present investigations. For example, Dog B secreted incomparatively largely on milk feeding, and Dogs Neo and N on feeding with flatfish. Among the food-stuffs tested, flesh and fishes are most potent to cause the gastric secretion, and there was materially no difference in this respect between beef and various kinds of fish, generally speaking. In some cases fish acted more potently, though not so excessively. And the secreting period is long. Mode of cooking might be looked upon to have some influence in some cases, but never definitely. Fermented soy-beans, holding much protein, acts upon the gastric secretion in a similar potency to flesh and fish. Bread and boiled rice act most weakly in eliciting the gastric secretion. The present investigations and those quoted in the book of Babkin, etc. show that the large figure on feeding with 200 grms. bread two times the amount applied in the present investigation, such as of Chishin, quoted in several text books of physiology, might be justifiably taken as rather infrequently occurring. The secretory ability of milk is intermediate; the duration of gastric secretion due to milk, in the amount here given, continued 3-4 hours, most shortly. On vegetable food-stuffs the gastric secretion continued so, or somewhat longer. Fried bean-curd, some stuffs from wheat or rice causes also only a small secretion of the gastric juice. With the same food-stuffs and their same amount, the staying time in the stomach was measured by means of the simple gastric fistula. No material difference was found definitely between the period covering the gastric secretion and the staying time, excepting boiled rice and rice gruel. They stay longer than they evoke the gastric secretion. By way of precaution it maybe said that these comparisons are not exact, because there are large variations from case to case, especially concerning the secretion period.