reflex, but indirectly, after it has first awakened and enlivened the idea of food in the dog’s consciousness, and thereby called forth the passionate desire. I hope that the foregoing will in no way lead to a confusion of ideas in your minds, but will assist you to an exact and concrete analysis of the previous simple explanation of the facts. This representation, which bears more or less of a hypothetical character, could, of course, be submitted to experimental proof. For such it is only necessary to compare the influence which sham feeding exercises in an œsophagotomised dog with that in one having a simple gastric fistula. LECTURE VIII PHYSIOLOGICAL ACTION AND THE TEACHING OF INSTINCT: EXPERIENCES OF THE PHYSICIAN It would be desirable, in the interests of medicine, that the methods described in these lectures should be employed in experimental investigations into the pathology and therapeutics of the digestive canal on the lines laid down--The fact that the beginning of the secretory work in the stomach depends upon a psychic effect harmonises with the experiences of every-day life, namely, that food should be eaten with attention and relish--To restore the appetite has from all ages been the endeavour of the physician--The indifference of the present-day physician towards appetite--Probable causes of this--Curative remedies based upon a restoration of appetite--The therapeutic effects of bitters depend upon the excitation of appetite--The usages of the mid-day meal are in agreement with physiological requirements--Physiological reasons for certain instinctive customs and empirical regulations--Importance of an acid reaction of the food--Dietetics of fat and its therapeutic application--The peculiar position of milk among food-stuffs is based on physiological reasons--Explanation of the curative effects of sodium bicarbonate and sodium chloride--The causes of individual differences in the work of the digestive glands--Participation of the inhibitory nerves of secretion in the production of pathological effects.