THE ALUMNI JOURNAL. 



Peptones are more osmotic than raw 

 albnmenoids. They pass more readily 

 through urinal membranes, and thus 

 they are easily taken up by the blood 

 and distributed to the tissues of the 

 body. 



The ultimate destination of all the 

 elements of food is the blood, and from 

 thence to the tissues. 



Fats, or the hydro-carbons, are only 

 slightly acted upon by the gastric juice. 

 It dissolves into the fat vesicles, but does 

 not act on the fats themselves. 



The carbo-hydrates are subjected to 

 little or no change by the gastric juice. 

 Cane suger is acted on by the acid, but 

 this is unimportant. 



Raw starch is hydrated by the warmth 

 of stomach, but is not converted into 

 glucose. 



Stomach digestion occupies from three 

 to three and one-half hours. The food 

 is constantly being churned up by the 

 movements of the muscular coat ot this 

 organ, and when it is rendered liquid it 

 is forced through the narrow end of the 

 stomach that leads into the small intes- 

 tine called the pylorus and is subjected 

 to further digestion in the small intestine. 

 In the small intestine the food is acted 

 upon by the three remaining digestive 

 fluids or juices, namely, the pancreatic 

 juice, the intestinal juice and the bile. 



The small intestine is about twenty 

 feet in length. It consists of a horse- 

 shoe shaped curve, the duodenum, which 

 is about ten inches in length, and two 

 other portions, the jejunum and ilium. 

 The jejunum is the upper part next the 

 duodenum, and occupies two-fifths of the 

 entire remaining length. The ilium 

 occupies the remaining three-fifths of the 

 small intestine, and ends in the blood 

 pouch called the caecum, which is the 

 beginning of the large or greater intes- 

 tine. 



The coats of the small intestine are 

 identical with those of the stomach, and 

 like that organ, the gut is endowed with 

 contractibility. 



The mucous membrane lining the 

 small intestine is closely studded with 

 the glands that secrete the intestinal 

 juice, and also contains the small organs 

 called villi, that absorb the digestive ele- 

 ments after their preparation by the 

 various juices. 



The intestinal juice is not readily ob- 

 tained in its pure state. 



Bush, a German physiologist, made a 

 series of valuable observations on a case 

 that came under his care. 



The subject of his experimentation had 

 been gored by a bull, the animal's horns 

 entering the small intestine. 



After recovery two fistulous openings 

 remained, and it was thus possible to in- 

 troduce various articles ot diet into one 

 fistula and remove them again from the 

 other. 



As the result of these observations we 

 may say that the intestinal juice changes 

 starch into glucose and aids in the di- 

 gestion of organic nitrogeneous sub- 

 stances. It has no action on cane sugar 

 nor fats. 



We come now to the most important 

 of the digestive fluids of intestinal diges- 

 tion, namely the pancreatic juice. 



The pancreas is situated transversely 

 in the upper part of the abdominal 

 cavity. It is about seven inches in length 

 and communicates with the duodenum 

 by two ducts. One that combines with 

 the common bile duct from the liver and 

 the other which enters the intestine by 

 itself at a point about one inch lower 

 down. 



The juice of the pancreas is not easily 

 obtained in a normal state. Still ob- 

 servations on this point were successfully 

 made by Bernard. 



