The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-08-30
DIGESTION
 WITH ROENTGEN- RAYS

the food onward through the pylorus- the Keeper of the gate" as the ancients long ago christened the little valvuar doorway that opens or closes the lower end of what they might also have called the house of digestion. Naturally the ac- tual process of digestion slowly empties the cardiac, or reservoir part of the stom- ach. the size of the pyloric part increas- ing slightly as the other grows smaller. The food, as watched in the X-ray shad- owgraph moved into the intestines, one might say, by occasional jumps past the keeper of the gate.
 One of the interesting facts visibly il- lustrated by this curious shadow panto- mime is the close relation between the condition of the mind and that of the stomach. AS has been noted already male cats objected to the experiment much more vigorously than the females. in many cases getting so angry that di- geston stopped entirely and another anil nal had to be substituted. When the cat became angry hte waves that had been following each other regularly over the pyloric region ceased moving and diges- tion was evidently suspended. On an- other occasion when the undulations were coursing regularly over the stom- ach of a female cat she suddenly changed from condition of peaceful sleepiness and began to breathe quickly and endeavor to get loose from her fas- tenings. As soon as this change took place the undulations of the stomach stopped and it's outline presented a smooth, rounded appearance. The oper- ator continued his observations, stroking the cat reassuringly and in a few mo- ments Pussy was again purring con- tentedly and the stomach had resumed its monotonously regular motion. In short any experience of strong feeling on the part of the animal was immedi- ately reflected by the action of the stom- ach-a scientific observation that should lead thoughtful humans to get mad or worry, if they must get mad or worry, before meals, but never immediately af- rewards.
 How individual particles of food are handled by the stomach appeared also in the X-ray shadowgraphs. In this case pellets of food were prepared in which a large amount of subnitrate of bismuth had been mixed, the result being that these individual pellets cast a darker shadow on the screen and could thus be seen moving to and fro in the shadow graph picture. These harder morsels were moved forward and backward by the regular motion of the stomach, thus gradually approaching the Keeper of the gate" and usually being sent back to re- peat the process over several times be- fore they were allowed to enter upon the next step of digestion. In short these harder particles of food-and here again the experiments has its moral for aver age humanity, the pellets being equiva- lent to food not thoroughly masticated- were mechanically kept under the inf1u- ence of the gastric juices and constant movement of the somach until they had been thoroughly softened and were usu- ally the last particles of food to leave the stomach The stomach itself, or rather the shadow of its contents, as thrown on the screen of the X-ray ap- paratus, naturally becomes less and less visible as digestion progresses, and at 6 clock the process which began at Il is practically finished and the shadow Is hardly more than a spot of gray on a white background.