The following excerpt from Medizinische Wochenschrift 47:23, 1909, was translated by Dr. Ernst Fischer, Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Albany Medical Center Hospital; formerly Chairman of the Department of Physiology, Medical College of Virginia, Richmond, Va. The excerpt, approximately one-third the length of the original article, is published as a classic and early observation of colonic motor activity.—J. T. F., Editor