MUCOUS COAT. 391 



In studying the changes which the alimentary mass un- 

 dergoes in its passage through the small intestine, we have 

 seen that in this portion of the canal the great part of all 

 the nutritive material is not only liquefied, but absorbed. 

 Sometimes fragments of muscular fibre, oil-globules, and other 

 matters in a state of partial disintegration are to be detected 

 in the fseces by the microscope ; but generally this is either 

 the result of taking an excessive quantity of these substances, 

 or it depends upon some derangement of the digestive ap- 

 paratus ; though muscular fibres deeply colored with bile, 

 but still distinctly striated, were constantly found in the 

 fseces by Wehsarg. 1 When intestinal digestion takes place 

 with regularity, the transformation of the alimentary mass 

 into faecal matter is slow and gradual. As the contents of 

 the stomach are passed little by little into the duodenum, the 

 chymous mass becomes of a bright-yellow color, and its 

 fluidity is increased, from the admixture of bile and pancre- 



of the most remarkable of these was reported in the American Journal of the 

 Medical /Sciences, October, 1852, by Dr. J. L. Pierce. In this case, the patient, 

 a female about twenty-sis years of age, suffered from a disorder of the stomach, 

 in which all articles of food were rejected within a few moments after they had 

 been taken. She was actually in danger of death from inanition, when it was 

 proposed to nourish her entirely by enemata. Under the direction of her physi- 

 cian, she took injections of lamb or mutton broth, about half a pint at a time, every 

 three hours, for about three months. During the first week of this treatment, 

 she was allowed occasionally a little gum-arabic water or pure water, not to ex- 

 ceed a teaspoonful at a time ; but after that, nothing was taken by the mouth. 

 Under this treatment the patient improved in health and strength, began grad- 

 ually to take food by the mouth at the end of three months, and finally recovered. 

 (Loc. cit., p. 571 et seq.) 



It is difficult to determine whether nutritive matters thus introduced into the 

 large intestine undergo any change which may be likened to digestion ; but 

 there can be no doubt that they are in great part absorbed. A French experi- 

 menter, M. Bouisson, reports an observation in which a dog was first purged, 

 then kept fasting for two days, when a quantity of milk was injected into the 

 large intestine. The animal was killed a short time after, and the lymphatics from 

 the large intestine were found filled with white chyle. (Etudes sur le Chyle. 

 Gazette Medicale de Paris, 1844, tome xii., p. 522.) 



1 WEHSARG, MiTcroscopische und Chemiche Unterwichungen der Faeces g&~ 

 sunder, erwachscner Menschen, Giessen, 1833, p. 65. 



