The faeces of children and adults : their examination and diagnostic significance with indications for treatment / by P.J. Cammidge.

  • Cammidge, P. J. (Percy John), 1872-
Date:
1914
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Licence: In copyright

Credit: The faeces of children and adults : their examination and diagnostic significance with indications for treatment / by P.J. Cammidge. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Leeds Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Leeds Library.

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    of large quantities in excess of the requirements of the body, how- ever, no doubt tends to impair the functions of the various organs by increasing the volume of the blood and thus embarrassing the action of the heart, lessening the activity of the digestive juices, and thus causing indigestion and leading to faulty metabolism. It has generally been accepted, on theoretical grounds, that water taken with meals dilutes the digestive juices and so retards digestion, and that therefore it is better that fluids should be con- simied at the end of or after meals. The experiments of Hawk and his fellow workers suggest, however, that the copious ingestion of water with meals promotes economical metabolism. Hawk carried out a series of experiments in which healthy young men were put on a uniform diet and their food and excreta analyzed quantitatively. The experiments were divided into three periods : a preliminary period, during which the subjects were brought into a state of approximate nitrogenous equihbrium by several days of uniform diet and light exercise ; an experimental period, in which definite quantities of water were added to each meal; and a period during which the effects of the experiment were watched for a number of days on a uniform diet without the added water. In some cases 500 c.c. and in others 1000 c.c. of water were taken with each meal, in addition to the amount normally consumed. The subjects were weighed daily, and analyses were made of the collected twenty-four hours' excreta. An expected result was the immediate increase in the quantity and decrease in the specific gravity of the urine. Accompanying this was a decided increase in the ammonia-nitrogen and chlorine excretion. Hawk explains this as a result of the increased secretion of hydrochloric acid by the stomach, due to the stimulating effect of the water. This acid, being neutrahzed by the ammonia formed as a result of protein consumption in the tissues, gave the increased output of ammonia and chlorine, probably as ammonium chloride^ There was also a decrease in the uric acid content and an increased allantoin output, which is tentatively attributed to the more com- plete oxidation of the waste products. Analyses of^ the stools showed a decrease in the faecal output, both wet and dried, x his was accompanied by a decrease in the fats and carbohydrates excreted, in the feecal nitrogen, and in the actual bacterial content. The intestinal putrefaction was decreased as measured by the indican output. This is ascribed to the inhibition of the indol- forming bacteria due to the accelerated absorption o the products of protein digestion. More complete absorption of all foods leaves less culture medium for bacteria, which may explain the decrease