THE GASTRIC DIGESTION OF MEAT IN HEALTH AND IN DISEASE

Some time ago, one of us in collaboration with Fishback, Smith, Bergeim, Lichtenthaeler and Hawk,¹ published the results of a study of beef and beef products in the normal human stomach. This observation was based on seventy complete experiments on twenty-five different subjects. In this study we investigated the different forms of beef as well as various methods of meat preparations. Roast beef, hamburger steak, beefsteaks, stewed beef, boiled corned beef, dried beef and beef bologna were studied. We found that the administration of 100 Gm. of the beef products gave on an average an evacuation time of two hours and thirty-five minutes on subjects of the rapid emptying type, and three hours and twenty-five minutes on subjects with "slow" stomachs. What was more interesting was the fact that the average total acidity at the highest point of digestion was 120 degrees (hydrochloric acid), almost twice as high as