282 PHYSIOLOGY CHAP. 



emulsified fat of milk, of which 53 per cent could be absorbed. 

 After incomplete extirpation of the pancreas, on the contrary, 

 absorption of about half the ingested fat, and as much as 80 per 

 cent of the fat of milk could be observed. 



These conclusions were, however, criticised and corrected by 

 Hedon and Ville (1897), who employed a more perfect method of 

 estimating the fats in the faeces, and further investigated the 

 fat content of the chyle after the complete or incomplete removal 

 of the pancreas. They found that even in perfectly depancreatised 

 dogs there is a certain deficit of eliminated as compared with 

 ingested fat, the missing amount being found in the chyle, which 

 presents a milky aspect and contains a considerable amount 

 of fat. 



The work of both Abelmann and of these French investigators 

 shows that cleavage of fats goes on energetically even in the 

 absence of the pancreas (owing to the action of the lipolytic 

 enzyme of the gastric juice, the succus entericus, and the intestinal 

 microbes), since the neutral fat ingested is found in the faeces 

 principally in the form of free fatty acids, much less in the form 

 of neutral fats, and least of all as soaps. 



The phenomenon- of loss of fat by the faeces in quantities 

 approximately equal to the alimentary fat, after the total extir- 

 pation of the pancreas, was confirmed by numerous observers 

 (Harley, Kosenberg, Baldi, Scotti, Hess, Pfluger, etc.). These 

 authors all interpreted it as being due to defective absorption 

 owing to absence of the pancreatic secretion in the intestine. 



This explanation is contradicted by the fact that absorption of 

 80 per cent and more of fat can be seen when a segment of about 

 one-third of the pancreas is left, isolated from the abdominal cavity, 

 and pouring its secretion away outside the body (U. Lombroso, 

 Fleckseder, see p. 101). 



It might logically be supposed that on partial removal of the 

 pancreas with deviation of the secretion to the exterior, there 

 would be an increase in the lipolytic and enzymic activity of the 

 other glands which provide for the digestion of the fats and their 

 subsequent absorption. This hypothesis is, however, excluded by 

 the results of Lombroso's experiments on the enzymic activity 

 of the various secretions, before and after the extirpation of the 

 pancreas secreting outside the intestine. 



That the loss of fat by the faeces in depancreatised animals 

 cannot be ascribed to deficiency of the lipolytic process, appears 

 from the fact that on administering fatty acids or soaps instead 

 of neutral fats, the amount of fats eliminated by the faeces of 

 depancreatised dogs diminishes very little (Abelmann, Lombroso). 



Is it possible that the fat present in the faeces of depancreatised 

 animals does not consist exclusively of non-absorbed alimentary 

 fat, as is generally supposed, but also to a greater or less extent of 



