The important observation by Haden and Orr1 in 1923 that obstruction of the esophagus or of the cardiac end of the stomach in the dog is rapidly fatal has been confirmed by Wangensteen and Chunn.2 Such animals die in from thirty-six to seventy-two hours if untreated. In view of the great significance of these observations, further study has seemed worth while in an attempt to procure more data regarding the abnormal physiology concerned in the lethal outcome.
All operations were performed under ether anesthesia after the preliminary administration of 1/4 grain (0.016 Gm.) of morphine sulphate hypodermically. The morphine caused emesis and purging. Samples of blood were drawn before operation and at subsequent intervals and determinations of the blood chlorides, the carbon dioxide combining power of the plasma, the blood urea nitrogen and, in some cases, of the blood sugar were carried out. The animals were not