JUICE. 323 



possessed, to a certain degree, the property of transforming 

 starch into sugar, but the intensity of its action in this re- 

 spect was very variable. It also imperfectly emulsified the 

 fats and had some action upon the albuminoids. The gen- 

 eral conclusion arrived at by Frerichs was that the intestinal 

 juice was not very active in digestion. 1 



The method of studying the intestinal juice employed by 

 Bidder and Schmidt more nearly fulfilled the necessary phys- 

 iological conditions. They experimented upon dogs and 

 cats, shutting off from the intestine the bile and pancreatic 

 juice, and found that when starch was introduced into the 

 canal it became transformed into sugar. They also ob- 

 served that fat was emulsified to a considerable degree, and 

 that albumen and meat were partially disintegrated and di- 

 gested. 2 These observers were unable to collect the intesti- 

 nal juice in quantity sufficient for analysis ; and regarded 

 the fluids which were obtained in quantity by Frerichs as 

 the result of pathological action. That which they obtained 

 was found to be colorless, very viscid, and strongly alkaline 

 in its reaction. 



As far as the composition and general properties of the 

 intestinal juice are concerned, the observations of Colin upon 

 horses are the most definite, though it is questionable whether 

 he succeeded in obtaining the fluid in a normal state. To 

 collect the fluid, an incision was made into the abdominal 

 cavity, and from four and a half to six feet of the small in- 

 testine were drawn out. This portion was emptied by gently 

 pressing with the finger from above downward, while with 

 the other hand the upper portion was kept closed. Without 

 removing the fingers, two soft clamps were then applied, thus 

 shutting off the exposed part of the intestine from the rest 

 of the canal. The gut was then returned and the wound in 

 the abdomen closed. At the end of half an hour, the animal 



1 FRERICHS, Verdauung. WAGNER'S Handworterbudi der Physiologic, Braun- 

 schweig, 1846, Bd. iii., S. 832. 



2 BIDDER UNO SCHMIDT, Die Verdauungssafte, Leipzig, 1852, S. 270 et seq. 



