Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1903-08-13
Iuatcbino Digestion
lQttb Roenteen Rays.

food onward through the pylorus-the
Keeper of the gate, as the ancients
long ago christened the little valvu.
lar doorway that opens or closes the
lower end Of what they might alsu
have called the house OF digestion,
Naturally the actual process OF diges,
ton slowl, emptes the cardiac, or
reservoir part OF the stomach, the size
OF the pyloric part increasing slight.
ly as the other grows smaller, The
food, as watched in the X-ray shadow.
graph, moved into the intestines, one
might say, by occasional jumps past
the keeper u the gate
/ One OF the interesting facts visihly
illustrated by this curious shadow
4 pautomime is the close relation hc-
tween the condition VI the mind and
( that OF the stomach, AS has been
noted already male cats objected 70
! the experiment much more vigorously
than the females, in many cases get,
ting SO angry that digestion stopped
entirely and another animal had to be
substituted. When the cat became
angry the waves that had been fol,
! lowing each other regularly over the
pylorc region ceased moving and
digestion was evidently suspended,
/ On another occasion when the uudu.
! latiouS were coursing regularly over
the stomach of a female cat she sud,
denly changed from condition OF
peaceful sleopiness and began to
/ breathe quickly and endeavor to get
/ loose from her fastenings, AS soon
as this change took place the undu'
lations Of the stomach stopped and
! its outline presented smooth, round
ed appearance. The operator coh'
tinued his observations. stroking the
cat reassuringly and in few moments
Pussy was again purring contentedly
and the stomach had resumed its
monotonously regular motion. In
short any experience of strong feel
ing on the part of the animal was inn
mediately reflected by the action OF
the stomach,--a scientific observation
that should lead thoughtful humans &c
get mad or worry, il they must Get
mad or worry. before meals, but neVc'
Immediately afterwards.
How individual PARTICLES OF food are
handled by the stomach appeared also
in the N.ray shadowgraphs In this
case pellets OF food were prepared II
which large amount OF subnitrate 81
bismuth had been mixed, the result be
ing that these individual pellets cast
a darker shadow on the screen ant
could thus be seen moving to and fix
in the shadowgraph picture. TheI
harder morscls We're moved forward
and backward by The regular motion
OF the stomach, thus gradually az
preaching the Keeper Of the gate
and usually being sent back to repeat
the process several times over before
they were allowed to enter upon the
next step Of digestion. In short these
again the experiment has it's mora
for average humanity the pellets be
ing equivalent to food not thoroughly
masticated--were mechanically KEEP
under the influence OF the gastric
juices and constant movement of the
stomach until they had been thorough
ly softened and were usually the las
particles of food to leave the stomach
The stomach itself or rather Tho
shadow OF its contents as thrown or
the screen OF the X.ray apparatus
naturally becomes less and less Wis
ibIe as digestion progresses, and a
six o'clock the process which began a
III is practically finished and thu
shadow is hardly more than spot o
gray on a white background.