Milford chronicle., 1904-04-22
THE STOMACH AT WORK.
4 Rays Show n COntented Mind Is
Essential to Good Digestion.

Essential to Good Digestion.
Until within very recent years any
exact scientific knowledge Of the ac-
tual workings of the stomach had been /
impossible because there was no way
in which normal stomach could be /
visibly observed while digesting a COM
Portable dinner. The discovery of the /.
y ray, however. has bccn utilized dur
ing the past few years by Or. W. B.
Cannon of the Harvard McGical school
in a study Of digestive proc, SSes that
presents an interesting chapter in mod
ern scientific investigation.
The operations of a cats digestive
organs. so far as they are yet known.
are very much like a mans, and, al
though the cats stomach is not imper-
vious to the y ray, if the cat had swal-
lowed a small metal button the y ray.
as everybody now knows, would pro-
duce a shadowgraph of that button.
This fact is the basis of the Harvard
scientists remarkable series of exper-
iments. The cat was given a substan
tial meal of bread softened with milk
and mixed with subnitrate of bismuth
"a harmless, nOnirritating powder
which presents the necessary condition
/ of being imperviOus to the y ray-and
| placed in a position to be observed, ar
ranged especially with view to the
animals comfort during the ensuing
period of digestion.
About FIVE minutes after the meal Of
bread. milk and bismuth the outline Of
the cats stomach, as represented by
its contents, appeared on the screen Of
the Y ray apparatus. the screen being
above and the mechanism for generat-
ing the Y ray being beneath the sup
port on which the cat rested. For a
few minutes this shadow remains
quiet, but from this time on until
bread and subnitrate of bismuth have
left the stonlach the inner mechan-
ism works under ordinary conditions
with clockliNe regularity, and the out
line of the shadow is in constant mo-
tion. visibly undulating in monotonous
response to a series of waves passing
over its surface and showing plainly
the method by which the stomach
churns and digests its contents. These
waves, starting near the center Of tho
stomach and moving toward the intes
= tines, Tecur at ten second Intervals
When one wave is gust beginning sew
eral Others are visible running on
|. ahead of it. and during a single perloc
of digestion their number reaches th'
= amazing total of about 2,6OO succeed
ing waves.
One of the interesting facts visF0l
illustrated by this curious shadow Pan
tomime is the close relation betVSeel
: the condition Of the mind and that
- the stomach. when the cat beosm
angry at any cause, for example, tn
waves that had been following eac
: other regularly over the stomach eease
y moving. and digestion was evidentl
entirely suspended. On one oocasio
when the undulatiOns were oCursih
regularly over the stomach the aniiIi
suddenly changed from a condition G
peuceful sleepiness and began
breathe quickly and endeavor to g
q, loose from Der fastenings. As soon 4
j this change took place the untiulatlon
q of the stomach stopped. and IFS on
line presented a smooth, rounded al
Dearance. Uhe operator continued b
j observations. strOking the cat -eassu
J, ingly. and in few momeDsS puSs
was again purring cOntentedly and III
stomach had resumed its monotonousl
e xerular motion. In short Any eXper
e ,ence of streug feeling on the part
the animal is Immediately reflected
l. xhe action 'ef the stomach a ~Scientll
observation that should lead though
q ful humans to get mad or worry
j they must get mad or worry OeIol
meals. but never Immediately alte
IL ward.
E. The stomach itself. or. rather Il
II shadow of its contents as thrown q
the screen az the y ray apparatus, ha
n ,urallv becomes less and less visible
d. digestion progresses. and AT IS 0cloC
a. tbe process which began at II Is pra
tiranv finished, and the shadow
r hardly more than a spot Of gray on
- waite background.