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evidently consisted of what was still left in the loop. When this was removed 
the opening in the vagina closed, but juice still continued to flow from the abdominal 
opening. This juice was, as will appear later on, nothing else but intestinal juice. 
Relying on his experience, Prof. Kocu anticipated that this part of the intestine 
would ultimately become spontaneously occluded, after which the patient would 
be entirely cured; after the operation, she regained strength and felt in perfect 
health. To allow the juice to flow freely from the fistulous opening in the belly, 
a drainage tube was placed in the wound; the tube led to a little bottle which was 
fixed to the thigh in a slanting position; in this way the juice could be collected 
without inconvenience to the patient. 
This is the juice the first sample of which we received on the 
14 of December 1901, and with which we have carried out our 
researches. — We will first take up the composition of this juice, 
then its action and finally give some particulars with regard to its 
secretion. 
I. Composition of the juice. 
On superficial examination the product was seen to consist of a 
liquid, in which a not inconsiderable amount of morphological 
elements were present. When these were examined microscopically, 
it was found that they consisted of sound and phantom white blood- 
corpuscles, and a few red blood corpuscles; epithelium cells, bacteria 
and some fine crystalline needles were also present. Most probably 
the latter were fat crystals, for they dissolved in aether and became 
black where treated with osmic acid. 
By the use of the centrifuge, it was determined that the volume 
of morphological elements varied between 6 and 12 per cent of 
the liquid. 
After full subsidence without centrifugalising, the percentage 
volume of the deposit varies between 10 and 20. Mucus was not 
present in the juice. 
The presence of a large number of leucocytes and bacteria suggested 
inflammation, but as the liquid contained only a trace of albumin 
which was difficult to detect, this could not have been the case. 
The presence of bacteria can be explained because during and 
after the operation no rinsing of the intestinal loop was performed ; 
this process was omitted, because on therapeutic grounds there was 
no indication for it. We shall speak later on of the bacteria. 
After centrifugalizing, the liquid was opalescent, had an alkaline 
reaction and on the addition of sulphuric acid carbonic acid was 
given off; Nas CO; was therefore present. To determine this amount 
quantitatively titration was performed with '/s) normal acid and 
