The Ypsilanti daily press. (Ypsilanti, Mich.) 1928-1962, 1943-06-16

tent and have tried TO tell some
thing about the procedure he goes
through in order TO examine the
blood. Today | wish to take up
other laboratory methods Of cx-
animation Of different fluids Of the
body.
The medical profession and ply
siologists have been very ingeni-
Gus in submitting every secretion,
fluid and excretion Of the body to
examination in health and disease.
One Of the first Of the body secre-
tlons 10 be examined was the gas
trio juice-the secretion Of the
walls Of the stomach during the
process of digestion.
Attempts were made to obtain
this as far back as the 18th Cen
fury when an ambitious German
physician invented a kind Of brush
on the end Of a long wire, which
he poked down his patients gullet
and mopped up the inside Of the
stomach, very much like one Of
the instruments used TO clean
kitchen pans and bottles.
Beginning of Gastric Analysis
This method was not very salts
factory and the real beginning of
gastric analysis was when a DR..
Kussmaul mad a patient in his
ward who was called Der Weiner
The Whiner). The poor thing
whined all the time and for good
reason, because she had an OBJ
struction in her stomach and Sc
cretions damned back and kept
her bloated. Dr. Kussmaul con-
ceived the idea Of putting a tube
down and washing out her stom-
ach, which gave her great relief.
Remember, this was only as short
time ago as 1870. With his
Kussmaul tube the stomach spe-
cialists were able TO remove stom-
ach contents and make a chemical
and microscopical examination of
them.
At rest the stomach Is quite
empty of all secretions and pre-
sents a dry and glistening surface.
But almost Immediately after the
intake Of food, secretion begins
and within an hour it is almost at
its height.
In the early period Of analysis
of the stomach contents, the juice
was removed an hour after
small meal and many profound
conclusions were adduced on the
basis Of this examination. In fact,
before the x-ray began to be used
to visualize the stomach, the anal
ysis of the gastric juice was about
the only stock in trade Of the stom-
ach specialist.
The speciality thrived in those
palmy days. In fact, as | remem-
Der it, practically every other
doctor on the North Side of Chi
cago was a stomach specialist
when / spent my interneship
there. But in the course Of time
the general practitioners and gen.
eral surgeons found out there
wasn't very much value in the
examination Of the stomach con-
tents.
Examination Not Valuable
The stomach specialists were
prone to say that when a person
had great deal Of acid in his
stomach contents, that meant he
had ulcer and that when he had no
acid at all. that meant he had can
Ger. But the surgeons soon found
that sometimes there were cases
OF cancer of the stomach with
plenty Of acid and cases Of ulcer
with no acid at all and dependence
on the announcements drawn
from analysis Of the gastric Juice
are taken very specifically by the
diagnostician today.
One fluid Of the body which has
proved Of surprising value in the
diagnostic examination is the
cerebrospinal fluid. This is a
clear, watery-looking fluid which
surrounds the brain and spinal
cord. When these are diseased.
they are likely to pour dregs into
the fluid, which can be detected by
chemical and miscroscopical ex-
animation and which throw light