THE TERM "motion sickness" is here meant to include the conditions produced by accelerated motion of trains, ships, planes or other vehicles. Rosenbach called this condition "Kinetosen," and Starkenstein termed it "Bewegungskrankheit," which means sickness caused by undulation. This motion sickness, or "acceleration disease," is produced by rectilinear acceleration acting on the otoliths in the labyrinth.
The experiments made by my associates and myself on animals and man indicate that intravenous injection of sodium bicarbonate dissolves the otoliths and prevents the symptoms usually produced by motion sickness.
These experiments were conducted by exposing rabbits to the up and down motion produced by an apparatus making sixty-three "up and down" trips per minute for a distance of 43 cm. During this process, various changes in the rabbit were recorded. There was a decided increase in respiration and a noticeable inspiratory quickening. Gastric and intestinal action were quickly suppressed and soon ceased.