348 DIGESTION. 



stances, the functions of the gland were suspended for a 

 time, and its tissue was partly destroyed by the injection of 

 melted tallow. In both of these observations, the effects 

 upon digestion were very marked. Though the appetite 

 was voracious, the animals became gradually emaciated, 

 and the faeces contained a large quantity of rancid undi- 

 gested fat. At the same time, other alimentary principles, 

 incompletely digested, were recognized in the discharges. In 

 two dogs operated upon by Bernard, in which the experi- 

 ments were successful, the nutrition and the alvine discharges 

 became normal at the thirteenth and the seventeenth day. 



/ 



After the animals had completely recovered, they were killed, 

 and the pancreas in both instances was found partially de- 

 stroyed. 1 



I^ow that the action of the pancreatic juice upon fats is 

 so well understood, it is a matter of surprise that the cases 

 of fatty diarrhoea connected with disorganization of the pan- 

 creas, which were reported by Dr. Richard Bright, in 1832, 2 

 did not direct the attention of physiologists to the function 

 of this organ. These cases, with others of a similar charac- 

 ter which have been reported from time to time, are now 

 brought forward as strong evidence of the action of the pan- 

 creas in the digestion of fats. Many of them presented a 

 train of symptoms analogous to those observed in animals 

 after partial destruction of the gland. The presence of fat 

 in the alvine dejections was most marked ; and, as is now 

 well known, this could be nothing but the undigested fatty 

 principles of the food. In the three cases observed by Bright, 

 the pancreas was found so disorganized that its secreting 

 function must have been almost, if not entirely, abolished. 



1 BERNARD, Memoire sur le Pancreas, Paris, 1856, pp. 17 and 69. 



2 BRIGHT, Cases and Observations connected with Diseases of the Pancreas and 

 Duodenum. Medico- Chirurgical Transactions, London, 1833, vol. xviii., p. 1 et 

 seq. In the same volume (p. 57) is a case of jaundice with discharge- of fatty 

 matter from the bowels and a contracted state of the duodenum, reported by 

 E. A. Lloyd, Esq., and still another case of the same character is reported by 

 Dr. J. Elliotson. 



