The results of a study of the effect of the loss of function of the pyloric antrum on gastric digestion, and the establishment, if possible, of the greater curative influence of pyloric resection in gastric ulcer as compared with methods less radical, will be considered in this article. In such a discussion, the still largely unsettled questions of pyloric function, pyloric control, antral function, gastric mobility and acidity are necessarily often intertwined with the equally debatable

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... ns on the causes of gastric ulcer, its chronicity, its malignant tendency and its curability by purely medical measures, or by indirect or direct surgical procedures. As it is evidently impossible to treat exhaustively all of these points within the scope of this paper, I shall merely allude to some of them, discuss others briefly and take up exhaustively such phases of the problem as would seem to suit best the purposes in view. It may be well at the outset to recall points in the anatomy, physiology, and pathology of the stomach and to arrange again before our minds certain accepted facts and theories, and to have them ready for use in this discussion so that we may understand one another thoroughly in the use of terms, phrases, etc. ANATOMY, PHYSIOLOGY AND PATHOLOGY OF THE STOMACH The pylorus, or muscular ring interposed between the stomach and the duodeum, is often likened to a gate keeper regulating the egress of food from the stomach into the duodenum, and guarding against its possible régurgitation into the stomach. A certain intelligence as to when food should leave the stomach and a selective ability, deciding what should pass first and what last, has been ascribed to the pylorus, and much has been said and written on the function of this highly specialized mechanism. Until recently the theory of "acid control" of the pylorus had been most generally accepted.