296 Magendie on Absorption. 
To develope it after death, it was necessary to find a 
membrane in the vessels of which a current could be es- 
tablished which should imitate the circulation of the blood. 
at first made choice of an ytestinal part ; but was obliged 
gens absorption in 
leave no doubt on this subject, according to the judgmen 
of the academy itself. a 
ut one possible objection remained to be removed, 
which was, that the membranes which are permeable after 
death, do not seem to be so during life; in the dead bod 
the bile transudes into the peritoneum, and tinges with yel- 
Jow all the parts which environ the gall-bladder, which ef- 
fect does not appear to take place in the living animals; the 
fact is true, I have witnessed it too often to be disposed to 
deny it; but it does not appear to me to be indispensably 
g life 
varry off the matter which the vessels imbibe. — 
c h ft k i tk in livi animals, 
eg are penetrated and coloured by substances 
