Has Any Person Ever Lived With The Stomach Removed?

"There is no such case on record, although the pyloric end of the stomach, (i. e. the end on right side) has been cut out and the intestines sewed to the stomach. Such operations have seldom been successful, but it is probably due to the fact that they have never been made until the patient was almost dead of some malignant disease, such as cancer or ulcer."

You Have Made No Mention, Doctor, Of Fats. What Action Has The Gastric Juice Or Saliva On Them?

"Until within a few years it was supposed that the gastric juice had no effect whatever upon the fats, but modern investigation has changed that view somewhat, and it is now understood that the gastric juice is capable of breaking down or disintegrating fat cells thereby setting the fat particles or globules free. This, no doubt, is a great aid to intestinal digestion. It is also believed that the fat is to some extent changed into fatty acids and glycerine by the gastric juice."

Has The Gastric Juice Any Other Action?

"'It converts cane sugar into grape sugar, thus preparing it for absorption into the system."

Is There Anything Besides Starch That Is Not Greatly Acted Upon By The Gastric Juice?

"Yes, cellulose."

Where Is It Digested?

"It is digested somewhere in the apparatus of the lower animals, but nowhere in man; in fact, it keeps starch from digesting, because starch is encased in small cellulose cells, and unless the cells are ruptured by cooking or by mastication, starchy cereals and vegetables are almost wholly indigestible."

How Long Does Food Ordinarily Remain In The Stomach?

"From one to four hours, frequently longer."

What Are The Modifying Conditions?

"Much depends on the kind of food, upon the cooking, and the mixture of different kinds of foods."

Doctor, That Is Not Plain To Me, Will You Give Examples?

"Well, meat and tough vegetables, like peas and beans, require longer time for digestion than something that is easily dissolved, like the white of an egg. Then as to cooking, the longer meats are cooked, especially if roasted or fried, the harder and more insoluble they become, as heat coagulates, that is, makes the albumen in meat more solid."

Is There Anything Else That Makes Meat Difficult O. Digestion?

"Yes, being saturated with fat, because the gastric juice of the stomach has only a limited effect on fat, and if eggs or lean meat be fried or saturated with it, the particles might aptly be termed encased, and could only be acted on to a limrted extent, if at all, by the digestive agents of the stomach. This is the reason why fried lean meat is so hard to digest."

Is This All That Determines The Period Of Digestion?

"No, there are many other things. The fineness of the particles of food has much to do with it, and it will not require any labor to demonstrate that a particle, say the size of a pea or bean would not be so quickly dissolved, if it be dissolved at all, as a particle as small as very fine flour, so that the length of time food should require for digestion depends much upon how finely it is masticated or artificially divided, and this applies equally to both meats and starches. Another factor is the amount of acid in the stomach."

How Does That Affect The Duration Of Digestion?

"Well, some persons secrete very little acid, and are almost wholly unable to digest meats; others have such strong acid secretions that they digest meats very quickly, but that very fact might in a measure prevent starchy foods from being dissolved by the saliva, so that the kind of food and the amount of acid in the stomach are both elements affecting the period of digestion."

Is This All, Doctor?

"No; perhaps one of the most important of all is the demand of the system for food."

How Does This Affect Digestion?

"Well, if the system has previously been supplied with more food than it can use, nature has some way of protecting herself by not adding to the burden already carried. Of course, if the intestines are loaded with matter and their action slow, the food would not be quickly drawn downward. It is believed that when the system is clogged or there is an excessive accumulation of matter in the bowels, that the stomach must necessarily be in sympathy, and it sometimes happens that roods remaining too long in the stomach and decaying there is the first symptom pointing to the fact that the digestive organs have been overloaded and that there is no demand for food."

"Some people say that the amount of drinks or fluid taken into the stomach has much to do with the duration of digestion."

"That is true. If the digestive juices are greatly diluted they must necessarily be much less active than if they have their full strength."

What About The Temperature Of The Fluids Taken Into The Stomach?

"It also influences digestion, from the fact that the temperature of the stomach must be maintained at about the normal heat of the body, If cold drinks be poured into the stomach, as a matter of course, digestion will be delayed until the stomach can be re-warmed."

Do Individual Peculiarities Have Much To Do With The Time Required For Digestion Of Food?

"Yes, some people have very active stomachs but yet have inherited some antagonistic tendency to certain foods"

I Have Often Heard People Say That When People Are In Serious Trouble That They Were Likely To Suffer From Indigestion, Why Is This?

"Well, anything which affects the nervous system and in that way disturbs circulation, will affect digestion."

What Is The Theory Of This, Doctor?

"It is because the stomach requires a large supply of blood, and if the blood from any cause is in excess in other organs the supply of the stomach will necessarily be diminished. Great mental excitement keeps the flow of blood to the head instead of the stomach, and the same may be said of every vigorous exercise. There is still another cause for the various periods required for digesting the different foods, that is, their chemical effect on each other. To illustrate, tea contains a large amount of tanic acid. If strong tea should be drunk after eating the white of eggs, the tanic acid of the tea would precipitate the albumen of the eggs and make it entirely indigestible. This is about the same process as that of tanning leather"