290 DIGESTION. 



that the penetration of the fluid into the cavity of the intestine 

 proceeds with a strength proportional to the concentration of the 

 saccharine solution contained within it; and further, that the 

 absorption of the sugar varies directly with this concentration. If 

 the solution within the cavity of the intestine be very much diluted 

 by the absorption of water, the further absorption of sugar only 

 proceeds slowly. The previously mentioned exceptions to the 

 first of these laws strengthen the evidence in favour of this law ; 

 for if a concentrated solution of sugar be introduced into too short 

 a loop, into which the influx of aqueous fluid from without is conse- 

 quently difficult or impossible, we find even after 4 hours that it 

 is strongly distended, and that very little sugar is absorbed. Thus, 

 for instance, from 8 grammes of a solution containing 0'982 of a 

 gramme of sugar, 0'889 of a gramme (or 90'53^) of sugar was 

 absorbed by the loop containing 30,800 square millemetres of super- 

 ficial area, while only 0*182 of a gramme (or 18*534$) of sugar was 

 taken up from the loop presenting 11,160 millemetres of surface, 

 after the lapse of 4 hours. 



It is sufficiently apparent, even from this simple statement of 

 the positive results of von Becker's labours, that unexpected as at 

 first sight many of the facts appear, they are yet in the most per- 

 fect accordance with the laws of endosmosis in so far as they are 

 yet known. For if we only remember, for instance, the method 

 by which Jolly determined his endosmotic equivalents, in which, 

 in the place of the dissolved salt, a definite and corresponding quan- 

 tity of water always enters into the endosmometer, and where 1 

 part by weight of sugar is always replaced by 7 parts of water, we 

 can at once understand the augmentation in the contents of the 

 loop, which we perceive during the first hour after the injection of 

 a concentrated solution, while the absorption of sugar is going on 

 most actively. If the loop be too short for the concentrated sac- 

 charine solution, it can only take up a small quantity of water, and 

 hence only a small quantity of sugar, corresponding to the absorbed 

 water, can be given off; and we thus have an explanation why 

 we observe only a very slight absorption of sugar, associated with 

 considerable distention of the loop, in such cases. Finally, we see 

 from this endosmotic law, why the size of the loop (unless when it 

 be too small) exerts no influence on the absorption of sugar; for 

 if the loop be sufficiently great to allow the equivalent quantity of 

 water to enter, no more sugar than the quantity corresponding to 

 this water can ever escape, however great the loop may be. Since 

 the quantity of water which enters is dependent upon the amount 



