A study was carried out on 12 male and female nursing infants suffering from different pathologies but showing no disorders of the gastrointestinal tract during the study. Each patient was submitted to three gastric emptying tests carried out at 24 hours intervals and denoted A, B and C. The test meal, administered through a nasogastric tube, consisted of distilled water containing phenolsulfonphthalein is label. In test A, the water was at room temperature (+/- 27 degrees C) both at the beginning of the test and 5 minutes later. In test B, the water was first at room temperature, and was followed 5 minutes later by cold water (+/- 4 degrees C). In test C, cold water was administered both at the beginning of the test and 5 minutes later. The results showed that cold water following a meal of water at room temperature (test B) caused a significant delay in gastric emptying. However, when administered after a previous meal of cold water (test C), cold water only caused a tendency towards inhibition of gastric emptying. The data permit us to conclude that administration of water at low temperature inhibits the process of gastric fluid emptying, but repeated administration of cold water does not cause a cumulative inhibitory effect, at least at the time interval studied here. We discuss the possible mechanisms involved in the effect of temperature on the gastric emptying process, as well as the implications of the results obtained.