y. L J6 Analysis of the Chyle of the Hone. [Sepi. 



Article IX. 

 Analysis of the Chyle of the Horse. By M. Vauquelin.* 



M. Verrier, Clinical Professor at the Veterinary School of 

 Alfort, had the goodness to procure me, at my request, the 

 chyle of two horses, which he destroyed by blowing air into the 

 left jugular. These horses, though exhibiting some symptoms 

 of the glanders, were, notwithstanding, in good condition, and 

 had the appearance of good health. One of them, aged four 

 years, was a stallion; the other, aged eight years, was a gelding. 

 Both of them had eaten abundantly of hay and oats before their 

 death. They were opened immediately after death, and the 

 thoracic duct was tied near its insertion into the right axillary. 



The first of these horses furnished, by means of a puncture 

 towards the middle of the thoracic duct, a considerable quantity 

 of chyle, of a red colour, but less intense than that of blood, 

 There was obtained, likewise, by puncturing one of the sub- 

 lumbar branches, a considerable quantity of chyle as white as 

 milk. 



The second horse, by puncturing the middle of the thoracic 

 duct, yielded a quantity of reddish chyle ; but it was not prac- 

 ticable to puncture the sublumbar branches, and procure white 

 chyle, as was done with the first horse. 



As I examined each of these portions of chyle separately, I 

 shall, in order to be better understood, denote each by numbers, 

 in the order according to which I propose to treat of them. I 

 shall call No. 1 the portion of chyle drawn from the middle of 

 the thoracic duct of the first horse; No. 2, the white portion of 

 chyle furnished by the sublumbar branches of the same animal; 

 and No, 3, the chyle obtained from the thoracic duct of the 

 second horse. 



When we examine what anatomists and physiologists have 

 said of chyle, we find very little that can throw light upon its 

 chemical nature. They have all described, with more or less exact- 

 ness, its physical characters, and the modifications which it un* 

 dero-oes in different circumstances. I shall here give a short ab- 

 stract of their remarks upon this subject. 



Lister observed chyle swimming, like a species of oil, on the 

 iurface of blood and of serum. Wepfer observed that a kind of 

 cream formed on the surface of chyle. Bourdon, Pecquet, 

 Bartholin, Monro, &c. announced the coagulation of chyle, 

 both in the vessels which contain it, and in the open air. Bohn, 

 Bcrger, Ash, described butyraceous globules swimming in an 



* Translated from the Annates deChimie, vol.lxxai. p. 113. 



