MODERN CONCEPTS OF INTESTINAL FUNCTION

Abstract

The history of the management of intestinal disorders is replete with instances of unsound and unphysiologic approaches to the care of the intestinal invalid. The efforts of some sincere practitioners of former days, when knowledge was more imperfect than it is now, were misdirected and thus, at times, yielded results not altogether creditable. Some patients with intestinal maladies have been actually exploited by unprincipled persons including, perhaps, a few renegade physicians. There are those who have striven ceaselessly to place the care of the patient who suffers from intestinal disturbances on a firm and scientific basis. This has led to the accumulation of a large amount of valuable information on the functions and activities of the intestine. These considerations make this a propitious time to review and discuss the recently accumulated knowledge concerning intestinal function, with the hope of engendering a desire for investigation in others and with the even