Reply and explanation to recent criticism of my experimental study on effects of extirpation of the salivary glands on the gastric secretion

Abstract

It is not always a congenial task to have to reply to a criticism of one's experimental work. To many a conservative thinker, the policy contained in a remark attributed to Ludwig under a similar circumstance, “Schweigen ist gold,” may appeal as more expedient. But yet, the dignified silence may be interpreted, by the one who has advanced the criticism and even by the research worker and general student of physiology, as a tacit approval to the fault finding—in other words, as signifying that the criticism was deserved and the work criticised defective. I find myself in this embarrassing position with regard to an article published in the “Proceedings of the Society for Experimental Biology and Medicine, 1908, v, pp. 114-117,” New York, by Dr. A. S. Loevenhart and Dr. D. R. Hooker, entitled: “Note on the supposed presence of a gastric hormon in the salivary glands.”