178 OF FOOD, AND THE DIGESTIVE PROCESS. 



a sieve; and they are arranged in rings around the Peyerian glaudulse. 

 The secretion of Briinner's glands cannot be obtained separately from that 

 of the small intestine generally, but the glycerin extracts of the glands 

 dissected out from their attachments was found by Krolovv 1 to be capable 

 of converting starch into sugar and of dissolving fibrin. The Intestinal 

 juice appears, from the researches of Bidder and Schmidt, 2 to be a colorless 

 viscid liquid, invariably alkaline in its reaction, and containing from 3 to 3 

 per cent, of solid matter. The total amount daily secreted in Man is esti- 

 mated by these experimenters at about 7 oz. ; the rate of its secretion seems 

 to be most rapid five or six hours after a meal ; and its quantity is consider- 

 ably increased shortly after the ingestion of fluid, and this without any 

 diminution in the proportion of its solid constituents. The most satisfactory 

 observations that have been made in regard to the property of the succus 

 entericus or secretion of the Lieberkuhniau follicles and columnar epi- 

 thelium covering the general surface of the mucous membrane of the small 

 intestine are those of Busch upon a patient with an intestinal fistula. In 

 this interesting case, in which the contents of the stomach and duodenum 

 were completely prevented by a fistulous opening from entering the small 

 intestine, it was clearly determined by accurate chemical analysis of the 

 fseces, as well as indicated by the great improvement in the health which 

 resulted from introducing food into the lower part of the intestine, that the 

 fluids secreted by the jejunum, ileurn, and large intestine were capable of 

 dissolving albumen (though with the evolution of a putrefactive odor, prob- 

 ably due to the absence of the bile), and of converting starch into sugar. 

 There seemed, however, to be little or no emulsifying power exerted on the 

 fats, which were also but very slightly absorbed, the greater part reappear- 

 ing in the fbeces. In this case the woman lived for six weeks, previous to 

 her coming under the care of M. Busch, upon the absorption which had 

 taken place in the stomach and duodenum. A great portion of the prod- 

 ucts of digestion, which presented a variable reaction to test-paper, flowed 

 off by the fistulous orifice, and she had become much emaciated. The treat- 

 ment adopted was the reintroduction of this discharged fluid into the lower 

 orifice of the fistulous opening, and she rapidly regained her health and 

 strength. Experiments upon animals (chiefly dogs) have been much less 

 satisfactory in their results. Thiry 3 isolated a loop of the small intestine, 

 preserving the vascular supply intact, and established a fistulous opening 

 between it and the surface. The quantity of fluid obtained in this way from 

 the loop, if calculated for the whole length of the intestine, amounted to about 

 1 Ib. in five hours, and was of a clear straw-yellow color, alkaline reaction, and 

 exceedingly constant specific gravity (1.0115). It contained about 2.5 per 

 cent, of solids, less than one-half of the amount obtained by M. Busch from 

 his patient, of which about 1.5 consisted of albumen and other organic 

 matters, the remainder being salts. In experimenting on the physiological 

 effects of this fluid upon the different constituents of food, little more than 

 negative results were obtained, no action being apparently exerted either on 

 starch, fat, or albumen, and only a feeble power (when alkaline) of dissolv- 

 ing fibrin. Paschutin, 4 operating in a similar manner, obtained a fluid 

 which had little or no action on fats, or on the various albuminous com- 

 pounds. The infusion of the small intestine converted starch and cane-sugar 



1 Berlin klin. Wochenschrift, 1870. 



2 Op. cit., \\ 200-282; and Lchmann's Physiologischcn Chemie, 2d edit., Bd. ii, 

 pp. 95-99. 



3 Sitz. d. k. Aktid. zu Wicn, Bd. 1. Centralblntt, 1870, p. 5G1. 



