532 ABSOEPTION. 



a bull to be 1,01s, 1 and the specific gravity of the specimen 

 of human chyle examined by Rees was 1,024. 2 



The differences in the appearance of the chyle in dif- 

 ferent animals depend chiefly upon the diet. Colin found 

 it excessively milky in the carnivora, especially after fats 

 had been taken in quantity ; while in dogs that were nour- 

 ished with articles containing but little fat, its appearance 

 was hardly lactescent. 3 Tiedemann and Grnelin found the 

 chyle almost transparent in herbivora fed with hay or straw. 

 They also observed the fact that the chyle was nearly trans- 

 parent in dogs fed with liquid albumen, fibrin, gelatine, 

 starch, and gluten ; while it was white in the same animals 

 fed with milk, meat, bones, etc. 4 



It is impossible to give even an approximative estimate 

 of the entire quantity of pure chyle taken up by the lacteal 

 vessels. "When it finds its way into the thoracic duct, it is 

 mingled immediately with all the lymph from the lower ex- 

 tremities; and the immense quantities of fluid which have 

 been collected from this vessel by Colin and others, 6 give 

 no idea of the quantity of chyle absorbed from the intes- 

 tinal canal. We cannot, therefore, attempt even to give an 

 approximate estimate of absolute quantity of chyle ; but it is 

 evident that this is variable, depending upon the nature of 

 the food and the quantity of liquids ingested. 



Like the lymph, the chyle, when removed from the ves- 

 sels, speedily undergoes coagulation. Different specimens 

 of the fluid vary very much as regards the rapidity with 

 which coagulation takes place. The contents of the thoracic 

 duct taken from the inferior animals generally coagulates in 

 a few minutes. The first portion of the fluid collected from 



1 COLIN, op. cit., tome ii., p. 7. 



2 Loc. cit. 



8 Op. cit., p. 8. 



4 TIEDEMANN ET GMELIN, Recherches Experimentales Physiologiques et Chi* 

 miqucs sur la Digestion, Paris, 1827, premiere partie, p. 176 et seg., and p. 308. 

 6 See page 509. 



