Non-Surgical Drainage of the Gall-Bladder.

Early attempts at Duodenal Drainage. In I889 Boas succeeded in massaging the duodenal fluid back into the stomach, whence he recovered it by the stomach tube. In 1904, Boldyreff observed that the introduction of butter oil, etc.; had the effect of opening the pylorus and causing a regurgitation of the contents of the duodenum into the stomach. This discovery led Volhardt to administer a "test meal" of 200 c.c. of olive oil on a fasting stomach, recovering it half to one hour later. The fluid thus obtained consisted of duodenal fluid, olive oil and gastric juice. This mixture, on standing, separated into three layers according to their specific gravities. The duodenal fluid thus obtained could then be examined cytologically, chemically and bacteriologically. These early attempts to examine duodenal contents, although very crude, gave valuable information, as for instance the discovery that in the normal healthy state this fluid did not contain any micro-organisms, and that in cases of cholecystitis, Coliform bacilli, Streptococci or Staphylococci could be identified.