Abstract
On fifty-four patients and healthy individuals tests were made regarding the motor power of the stomach and intestines by means of X-ray examinations, and the stomach tube. In addition carmine was used for the determination of time during which same was entirely eliminated from the body. The tested subjects were kept on a standard diet for a number of days and the motor efficiency of the stomach and intestines was determined repeatedly by these methods. By taking the average, it was determined how long it took the stomach, and separately, how long it took the intestines, to propel the given amount of food. During the period of tests, the amount of physical activity was regulated and the mental activity approximately limited. Without any change of diet and mental activity, the physical activity was markedly increased or decreased and the effect of same upon the evacuating power of the stomach or intestines observed. At other times, without change in the diet or the amount of physical exercise, the amount of mental efforts was markedly increased or decreased and the effect observed in the same manner. Summarizing the results of such experiments, it appears that the healthy individual showed very little variation as regards the evacuating power of the stomach or intestines as long as the physical exercise was not excessive. Mental efforts had no perceptible effect.
In patients with moderate and marked degrees of atony and splanchnoptosis, the evacuating power of the stomach and intestines decreased in direct proportion to the amount of mental and physical exertion. Physical exertion had the same effect in such individuals if the patient was kept in a horizontal position during these exercises and during the period of observation in order to eliminate the effect of splanchnoptosis in the erect position.
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