Although most investigators and clinicians have attributed death in acute intestinal obstruction to a toxemia, there has been considerable evidence accumulating lately that supports the view that the loss of digestive secretions is an important factor in death from uncomplicated or simple high intestinal obstruction. Gatch, Trusler and Ayres1 have emphasized the view held by Hausler and Foster2 that two types of mechanical obstruction must be recognized: (1) acute simple obstruction in which there is simple occlusion of the lumen without circulatory involvement and (2) acute strangulation in which the obstruction is complicated by interference with venous, arterial or lymphatic circulation. As a result of their experiments Gatch and his associates concluded that in the first type, which occurs chiefly high up in the intestinal tract, death was caused by a profound metabolic disturbance resulting from three factors: dehydration, loss of chlorides and starvation. In the second type