ABSORPTION OF ALBUMINOIDS BY THE LACTEALS. 445 



excess of albumen and fibrin in the white chyle is due to 

 absorption of albuminoids from the intestinal canal. A 

 number of years ago, experiments were made upon this sub- 

 ject by Prout and Marcet, in which the chyle was collected 

 from the thoracic duct in dogs fed upon different substances. 

 These observers noted marked differences in the composition 

 of the chyle in the animals fed exclusively upon vegetable, and 

 those fed upon animal food ; in the latter case, the propor- 

 tion of albumen being very much greater. 1 The fact that 

 the fluids were taken from the thoracic duct, where the chyle 

 from the intestine is mixed with all the lymph from the lower 

 extremities and the pelvic organs, takes away somewhat from 

 the value of the experiment. This is all the more evident, 

 as in the more recent experiments of Bouchardat and San- 

 dras, it was found that the chyle from the thoracic duct 

 had about the same composition in animals fed with gum, 

 starch, sugar, fibrin, albumen, or gelatine. 2 Bouchardat and 

 Sandras conclude, from these observations, that the lacteals 

 absorb only fats. But the observations of Lane and Bees 

 upon this point, in which the chyle was taken from the lac- 

 teals before they emptied into the thoracic duct, are more 

 satisfactory. IVIr. Lane collected the chyle from the lacteals 

 of a donkey, seven and a half hours after a full meal of oats 

 and beans, and compared its composition with that of the 

 lymph. The analyses were made by Dr. Bees, who found 

 that the chyle contained about three times as much albumen 

 and fibrin as the lymph. 3 While by far the greater part of 

 the products of digestion of the albuminoids is absorbed by 



1 PROUT, Phenomena of Sanguification, and on the Blood in general. Annals 

 of Philosophy, London, 1819, vol. xiii., p. 25 ; and MARCET, Some Experiments on 

 the Chemical Nature of Chyle. Medico- Chirurgical Transactions, London, 1819, 

 vol. vi., p. 618. 



2 BOUCHARDAT ET SANDRAS, Rechtrches sur la Digestion. Annuaire de Tlw- 

 rapeutique, Paris, 1845, p. 259. 



3 LANE, Lymphatic and Lacteal System. Cyclopaedia of Anatomy and Physi- 

 ology, London, 1839-1 84 7, vol. iii., p. 223. These analyses were also published 

 by Rees in the London Medical Gazette, January 1, 1841, vol. xxvii., p. 547. 



