Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: The diseases of the stomach / by Dr. C.A. Ewald. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by the Augustus C. Long Health Sciences Library at Columbia University and Columbia University Libraries/Information Services, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the the Augustus C. Long Health Sciences Library at Columbia University and Columbia University.
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![tained. The longer period of waiting is of less importance, since, after all, we are looking for comparative results, provided the larger meals wonld yield more information abont the nature and course of digestion in pathological conditions; but this is not the case. Ein- horn,* Jiirgensen,f Loewenthal,:j: and many other writers, have shown that in both methods the variations in the results were only differences in the absolute values, but neither had any special pathog- nostic advantages. It is undoubtedly true that inspection of the stomach contents obtained after a mixed diet will at a glance show the degree of digestion of the starches and albuminoids, and espe- cially of the meat; yet the digestive capacity may also be de- termined by the changes in the roll, and whenever it is necessary we can always supplement it with the test dinner. A gastric juice which digests a roll completely will also digest meat; while, on the other hand, any increase in the secretion (hypersecretion and hyper- chlorhydria) may be detected with the simple digestive stimuh as well as with the more complicated one. The gastric juice which can not digest a roll will be still more insufficient when mixed diet or meat is taken. On the other hand, the test breakfast possesses the great advan- tage that we can at once detect old food remnants, such as fragments of meat, vegetables, etc., which have remained in the stomach. Thus there are many ])ros and cons for both methods, and while it must be admitted that the test breakfast is practically the most use- ful, yet we can succeed with any meal which is known to stimulate the normal stomach sufficiently. However, the advantages of the test breakfast are so great that I usually confine myself to it. It is especially convenient where large numbers of examinations must be made, and hardly anything else could be used in consultation prac- tice, where the patient's general condition is determined on one day, and early on the following morning he may come for the ex- * Einhom. Probefruhsfciick oder Probemittagbrod? Berl. klin. Wochenschrift, 1888, No. 32. f Chr. Jilrgensen. Probemittagmahlzeit oder Probefrulistilek ? Berl. klin. Wochenschrift, 1889, No. 20. X M. Loewenthal. Beitrage ziir Diagnostik und Therapie der Magenkrankhei- ten. Inaug. Dissertation, Berlin, 1892. 3](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b21223026_0037.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
