218 THE INCOME OF ENERGY 



the synthesis of a fat. This would offer a satisfactory 

 explanation of the presence of fat grannies in these 

 cells. As the fatty acid and glycerine diffuse out of 

 the cells through the basement membrane, the fat 

 in these cells would speedily disappear were it not that 

 these substances were constantly being absorbed from 

 the lumen of the intestine. When absorption ceases, 

 however, the fat present is at once hydrblyzed by the) 

 lipase present. This hydrolysis is in all probability; 

 complete for the reason that the products of the 

 hydrolysis, viz., glycerine and fatty acid, are being 

 constantly removed by diffusion. According to this 

 view, therefore, no fat ever enters or leaves the epi-. 

 thelial cells as such, but as fatty acid and glycerine. 



"These two substances then enter the central 

 lacteal, where equilibrium is again established and 

 there is a large production of fat." l 



1 ' ' ". Y 



IMMUNITY 



Ehrlich's Ricin Experiments. 2 'Powder Albert 

 biscuits weighing 6.75 grams. Add to each cake 



1 Kastle and Loevenhart : loccit.p. 522. 



2 Ehrlich : Deutsche medicinische Wochenschrift, 1891, 

 xvii, pp. 976-979. 



Kicin is a toxalbumin extracted from the seeds of the castor 

 oil plant. It is poisonous in the slightest traces. Weight for 

 weight it is a billion times more poisonous than corrosive sub- 

 limate. Intravenous injection of 0.03 milligram (0.00003 gram) 

 per kilo of body weight is fatal. One gram 'commercial ricin 

 would kill one and one-half million guinea-pigs; , l^h'e effect is 

 about one hundred times less when taken by the mouth, yet 



