HUMORAL FACTOR FROM THE BRAIN WHICH ACTIVATES GASTRIC MOTILITY.

When the vagus nerves in the neck of the dog are cut and the ends toward the brain are stimulated, gastric contractions follow. These contractions are not abolished by section of the cervical spinal cord, section of anterior and posterior thoracic and lumbar spinal nerves, section of the splanchnic nerves, or paralysis or excision of the celiac plexus. Evidence for the existence of a humoral blood-borne substance originating in the brain was obtained by experiments with an isolated perfused head, by perfusion of isolated stomachs by donor dogs, by cross-perfusion between two dogs, and by plasmapheresis. stimulates the stomach.