CHYLE. 531 



Dalton and others have noted the same fact, and have ob- 

 served that the fluid which is first discharged after a tube is 

 fixed in the thoracic duct is perfectly white, the rosy tint 

 gradually appearing as the chyle flows from the fistula. 1 

 These views with regard to the coloration of the chyle after its 

 discharge from the vessels are stated positively, as the result 

 of numerous experiments ; and there is every reason for sup- 

 posing that they are correct, notwithstanding that Longet 

 and some others have assumed that the chyle becomes tinged 

 with red as the result of a transformation of a coloring mat- 

 ter peculiar to this fluid, " a matter with regard to the origin 

 and nature of which we are not yet certain." 2 



The reaction of the chyle is either alkaline or neu- 

 tral. 3 Dalton noted an alkaline reaction in the chyle of 

 the goat and of the dog ; * and a specimen of chyle taken 

 from a criminal immediately after execution, and examined 

 by Bees, was neutral. 6 Leuret and Lassaigne obtained the 

 fluid from the receptaculum chyli in a man that had died 

 of cerebral inflammation, and found its reaction to be al- 

 kaline. 8 



The specific gravity of the chyle is always less than that 

 of the blood ; but it is very variable, and depends upon the 

 quality of the food and particularly upon the quantity of 

 liquids ingested. Lassaigne found the specific gravity of a 

 specimen of pure chyle taken from the mesenteric lacteals of 



1 DALTON, Lectures on the Physiology of the Circulation. American Medical 

 Monthly and New York Review, December, 1860, p. 409. 



2 LONGET, Traite de Physiologic, Paris, 1861, tome i., p. 423. 



3 Tiedemann and Gmelin found the fluid collected from the thoracic duct of a 

 dog, four hours after eating, to be alkaline. (TIEDEMANN ET GMELIN, Recherches 

 sur la Route que prennent diverses Substances pour passer de VJEstomac et du Ca- 

 nal Intestinal dans le Sang, etc., Paris, 1821, p. 4.) 



4 Loc. cit. 



5 REES, On the Chemical Analysis of the Contents of the Thoracic Duct in tlie 

 Human Subject. Philosophical Transactions, London, 1842, p. 8. 



6 LEURET ET LASSAIGNE, Recherches Physiologiques et Chimiques pour servir 

 d FHistoire de la Digestion, Paris, 1825, p. 165. 



