172 OF FOOD, AND THE DIGESTIVE PROCESS. 



creatic duct discharges itself some inches lower down in the intestine than 

 does the bile-duct), when fatty matters have been introduced into the ali- 

 mentary canal, they undergo no considerable change, until they have passed 

 the orifice of the pancreatic duct; an oily emulsion being then for the first 

 time found in the intestinal canal, and the opaque whiteness of chyle show- 

 ing itself in the contents of those absorbents only which originate in the in- 

 testinal villi below that orifice. So, again, M. Bernard affirms that by put- 

 ting a ligature round the pancreatic duct, the digestion of oleaginous matter 

 is so completely prevented, that it is found unchanged in the lower part of 

 the intestinal tube, and no opalescent chyle is found in the lacteals. This 

 position is further strengthened by the fact ascertained by clinical observa- 

 tion, 1 that there is a close relation between disease of the pancreas, and the 

 discharge of fatty matters per anum. Frerichs, Lehmann, Lenz, 2 and others, 

 endeavored to show that the statements of M. Bernard were too exclusive in 

 their character, and that the digestion and absorption of fatty matters took 

 place after the pancreatic duct had been tied (sufficient time having been 

 given for the evacuation of any pancreatic fluid that might have been in 

 the alimentary canal previously to the operation), and even in the lower 

 part of the small intestine, into which the substances had been conveyed 

 by injection, after it had been completely separated by a ligature from 

 the upper part into which the pancreatic fluid was poured. Bernard 

 replied with great acumen to these observers, that after tying the duct they 

 did not in most instances take care to ascertain whether a second duct was 

 present or not, a circumstance of common occurrence in some animals; and 

 secondly, that when the experiments were in other respects satisfactorily 

 performed, the emulsificatiou of the fats might still have been effected by 

 the increased activity and development of certain glands which he has ob- 

 served between the coats of the duodenum, in immediate proximity to the 

 entrance of the duct of the pancreas, and the secretion of which he found to 

 resemble very closely that of the pancreas itself. It must be observed how- 

 ever that Berard has dissected out these glands, and ascertained that their 

 collective weight does not exceed 3^5 th that of the pancreas; and, therefore, 

 the function of that gland can, in the first instance, at least, be but imper- 

 fectly discharged by them. Colin 3 (of Alfort), moreover, made some in- 

 genious experiments, in which he determined the quantity of fat contained 

 in the chyle of cows and other animals, both before and after ligature of 

 the pancreatic duct, and after extirpation of the gland. He was unable to 

 discover any remarkable difference in its composition. Similar experiments 

 were made by Herbst, Schiff, and Donders, from which the conclusion may be 

 fairly drawn, that though the pancreatic juice is of considerable importance 



considerable energy, and quite sufficient, in the absence of the pancreatic 



juice, to prepare a due amount of fat to supply the demands of nutrition ; or, 

 as M. Peyrani, 4 Voit, 5 and Schiff 6 contend, that the bile is an important 

 agent in the digestion of this class of alimentary substances. In Busch's 



1 Sec Dr. Bright's researches on this point, in Med.-Chir. Trans., vol. xviii ; also 

 an Article on Pancreatic Disease and Fatty Discharges, in Brit, and For. Med.-Chir. 

 Rev., vol. xii, p. 154. 



- !)< Atli|iU ( 'uncoctione et Absorptione, Dorpat, 1850. 



s Comptes Rcmlus, IH:,I;. 4 Ib., 18G7, p. 197. 



5 See Brucke, Vorlesungen, 1874, p. 329. 



6 Oiitralblatt, 1872, p. 790, Schiff occludes the duct of Wirsung with paraffin, and 

 finds the digestion of fats in no way interfered with. 



