The mercury-weighted stomach tube1 was designed by me one year ago, and since that time its value has been proved by hundreds of successful tests by many physicians. Its usefulness and advantages over the usual types of gastric or duodenal tubes in common use are as follows:
1. The tube is made of soft flexible rubber throughout.
2. There is no metal about the tube that can injure the mucous membrane of the stomach or duodenum as the metal tips of tubes in common use can do.
3. There is no metal tip which can become separated and get into a bronchus.
4. The holes for entrance of the gastric or duodenal contents have rubber margins and therefore no reasonable amount of suction from above can injure the mucosa, as may occur with tubes having metal tips, in which the corresponding holes have metal boundaries.
5. Since the tube