Diseases of the stomach are classified as follows: Nervous dyspepsia, neurosis of the stomach, gastric neurasthenia and gastralgia, are names applied to various affections of the stomach that have their origin in the nervous system. Acute and chronic gastritis designate acute and chronic inflammations of the stomach of a catarrhal character. Hyperchlorhydria and hypersecretion, apply to excessive secretion of hydrochloric acid in the stomach. The former is used to designate the excessive secretion of acid during meals; the latter to uninterrupted secretion without any relation to meals. Ulcer is a sore on the lining membrane of the stomach, which, in some cases, may perforate it. A dilated stomach is one that is stretched beyond its natural size and remains so. Cancer is a tumor of the stomach, which grows more or less rapidly, and interferes with digestion. This classification is made according to the manner in which the stomach is locally affected, rather than the cause of the disease or the symptoms produced. Neither of the diseases named have all symptoms entirely different from other diseases of the stomach, but usually each has some distinguishing characteristic. The time is past when physicians can call any disease of the stomach dyspepsia or indigestion, and stop there.

The modern doctor must now determine what kind of indigestion his patient nas, and to do this it may be necessary to take out the contents of the stomach and make a chemical examination of it. The fact that many physicians have not been able to differentiate one disease of the stomach from another, explains why so many dyspeptics have failed to be benefited by medical treatment.