CHAPTEE XII. 



PANCREATIC JTJICE. 



Pancreatic ducts Mode of obtaining the pancreatic juice General properties 

 and composition of the pancreatic juice Alterations of the pancreatic juice 

 Action of the pancreatic juice in digestion Action upon fats Destruction 

 of the pancreas Cases of fatty diarrhoea Action of the pancreatic juice 

 upon starchy and saccharine principles Action upon nitrogenized principles 

 Summary of the functions of the pancreas in digestion. 



THE physiological anatomy of the pancreas will not de- 

 mand a very extended consideration, as most of the points of 

 its descriptive anatomy have no direct relation to its phys- 

 iology, and its minute anatomy belongs properly to the sub- 

 ject of secretion. The pancreas is a glandular organ, situ- 

 ated transversely in the upper part of the abdominal cavity, 

 closely applied to its posterior wall. Its form is elongated, 

 with an enlarged thick portion, called the head, which is at- 

 tached to the duodenum, a body, and a pointed extremity, 

 which is in close relation to the hilum of the spleen. Its 

 average weight is from four to five ounces ; its length is about 

 seven inches ; its greatest breadth about an inch and a half ; 

 and its thickness three-quarters of an inch. 1 It lies behind the 

 peritoneum, which only covers its anterior surface. 



According to Bernard, who has made numerous investi- 

 gations into the anatomy of this gland, there are nearly 

 always, in the human subject, two ducts opening into the 



1 HYDE SALTER, Cyclopcedia of Anatomy and Physiology, London, 1859, vol. 

 v., supplement, p. 83. 



