192 OF ABSORPTION AND SANGUIFICATION. 



between their attached attenuated extremities, with a vascular network lying 

 between the basement-membrane of the villus, which joins the central lacteal, 

 and he states that after a meal containing oleaginous material the flask- 

 shaped bodies, or cup-cells, the delicate and more internally situated plexus 

 of absorbent vessels, and the central lacteal may all be seen charged with 

 oily particles. 1 



136. In regard to the degree in which the function of Nutritive Absorp- 

 tion is performed by the Lacteals and by the Sanguiferous system respect- 

 ively, considerable difference of opinion has prevailed. When the Absorbent 

 vessels were first discovered, and their functional importance was perceived, 

 it was imagined that the introduction of alimentary fluid into the vascular 

 system took place by them alone. Such an idea, however, would be alto- 

 gether inconsistent with the facts of Comparative Anatomy ; 2 and it is com- 

 pletely negatived by the results of experiment. For that Absorption is 

 effected to a very considerable amount by the agency of the Bloodvessels, is 

 shown in the first place, by the readiness with which aqueous fluids and even 

 alcohol are taken up from the parietes of the Stomach, and are carried into 

 the general circulation. Thus in a case of extroversion of the bladder, ob- 

 served by Mr. Erichsen, 3 in which the urinary secretion could be collected 

 immediately on its passing from the kidney, when a solution of ferrocyauide 

 of potassium was taken into the stomach, this salt was detected in the urine 

 in one instance within 1 minute, and in three other instances within 2i min- 

 utes. In the interesting experiments of Dr. Bence Jones and M. Dupre/ 

 the rapidity of absorption of certain salts from the stomach was shown to be 

 very great, a few grains of lithium chloride given to a fasting guinea-pig 

 diffusing itself through all the vascular textures, and even into the cartilage 

 of the hip-joint, in the short space of 15 minutes, and permeating every part 

 of the lens, even in old animals, in four hours. In like manner, from experi- 

 ments on cataractous lenses in man, it appears that traces of quinine may 

 be discovered in the lens in about 2^ hours after its ingestion. In the anal- 

 ogous experiments of Eulenberg 5 and of Colin, 6 iodide of potassium, when 

 injected into the stomach, could be detected in the parotidean saliva in from 

 20 to 45 minutes, and when into the small intestine of a horse in so short a 

 period as 6 minutes in the chyle. In all these cases, however, the stomach 

 may be presumed to have been empty, and the vascular system in a state of 

 aptitude for absorption ; since the experiments were made either after a long 

 fast, or at least four hours after a light meal. When, on the other hand, the 

 salt was introduced into the stomach soon after the ingestion of alimentary 

 substances, a much longer period elapsed before it could be detected in the 

 urine; thus, when a substantial meal had been taken two hours previously, 



1 These statements of Letzerich have met with much opposition. Lipsky ("Wiener 

 Sitzungsber. , Bd. lv, p. 183), Erdmann (Die Resorptionswege, etc ), and Sachs (Vir- 

 chow's Arrhiv, Bd. xxxix, p. 493), regard the cup-cells as the results of manipulation, 

 and deny their original existence altogether. Others, as Oeffinger (Keichert's Archiv, 

 1807, p. 337), and Thanhoffer (op. oil.), whilst admitting their presence during life, 

 believe they proceed from natural changes occurring in the ordinary epithelial cell.-, 

 such as imbibition of water, etc. Others, again, as Schultze (Archiv f. Mikroskop. 

 Anat., Bd. iii, pp. 145 and 204), and Theod. Eimer, in whose little pamphlet (Die. 

 I'.eeherzellen) the reader will find an interesting epitome of all the essays (thirty - 

 .-even in number) on this subject up to 1808, are <>f opinion that there is a real and 

 primary ditt'erenee between the columnar cells and the cup-cells, and they regard the 

 latter as mucus-secreting ari/nnH. Verson (op. cit.) leaves the question undecided. 



" See Princ. of Comp. Phys., chap. iv. 



3 Medical (ia/.ette, vol. xxxvi, p. 3G3. 



4 Pi'"( dings of the Kuy. Soc., vol. xiv, p. 220, and xv, p. 73. 



5 Hermann in Medicin Centralblatt, 1865, p. 5-'9. 



6 Canstatt's Bericbt, 1865, p. 104. 



