Toxicity of Intestinal Secretion

The following study was conducted with the purpose of further investigating the production of toxic material in closed loops of high intestine in dogs. These experiments are a continuation of the work of Davis) and of Stone, Bemheim, and Whipple. * In the work of Davis, intestinal secretion, collected by irrigation of the duodenojejunum, excluding pancreatic secretion, was kept under chloroform and toluene a number of days in a warm place, and studied for its toxic properties. These fluids were found to be toxic, and it was felt that the intestinal secretion was, possibly, toxic at the moment of its elaboration. In the light of subsequent work, however, the author feels that his conclusions are subject to revision. The condition under which the fluid was kept did not absolutely exclude the possibility of bacterial growth. Whipple, Stone, and Bernheim 3 studied the toxic properties of fluids collected in closed loops of intestine left in situ, and certain inferences were reached as to the source of the toxin in these fluids. The present article deals with a further effort to investigate these inferences, in consequence of which light has been thrown on them from a different point of view. In the work referred to, the rapidity with which toxins developed,