Basal Gastric Secretion in Cases of Peptic Ulcer: Relation of Acidity to Healing of Ulcer.

In studying gastric secretion it has been customary to promote the flow of juice by some sort of artificial stimulus, whether food or drug, and such a procedure is of obvious importance where the digestive capabilities of the stomach are under consideration. There is, however, another aspect of stomach function which is of value in clinical medicine, namely an assay of the secretions under resting or basal conditions. Here one exposes the spontaneous play of autonomic nerves on the secreting cells as well as possible hormonic effects or " inherent " cellular activity, without the confusing element of external stimuli which promote maximal secretion and tend to wipe out individual differences. It is obvious that the correlations of basal gastric secretion with disease may be quite different from those detected after the powerful stimulus of histamine.