The estimation of gastro-intestinal pathology is being placed on a safer basis than subjective symptomatology. The stomach may be the barometer of digestive function but not so frequently the site of the pathologic conditions. Mayo1 says that "the stomach has been credited with a host of diseases which it never possessed and has received an amount of treatment for supposititious conditions that is little credit to the medical profession. These mistakes have been due mainly to fundamental misconceptions of the function of the stomach, its relation to diseases in general and especially to those of the digestive tract. Mistakes in diagnosis are more often the result of lack of examination than a lack of knowledge. Prolonged laboratory examination and investigation has been productive of much harm. A scientific but deadly delay."
The primary etiological factor in duodenal ulcer is as obscure as that of gastric ulcer. Predisposing conditions