“The stomach having been previously washed out, the patient is given a Boas meal of oatmeal soup, and one or two hours later, the stomach contents are obtained by means of the stomach-tube. The gastric contents under normal conditions will be found, under these circumstances, to give no reaction with Uffelmann’s reagent. If lactic acid is present, one gets a very distinct reaction, and it has been shown by Boas that the Uffelmann reaction only occurs in cases of carcinoma of the stomach. The presence of lactic acid after the oatmeal diet in carcinoma of the stomach is due to the fact that the lactic acid bacillus is present.”