366 DIGESTION AND RESORPTION OF FATS 



standing the fact that fat which has undergone cleavage in 

 the lumen of the intestine is regenerated synthetically in the 

 wall of the bowel. 42 Just as fat cleavage is activated by the 

 salts of the biliary acids, so, too, is the fermentative 

 synthesis of fat. 43 



Cleavage of Fat in the Intestine in the Absence of Pan- 

 cretic Secretion. Since, as above pointed out, the absorption 

 of fat, at least for the greater part, can be completed only 

 after complete cleavage according to the more recent views, 

 and the latter is very much augmented by the influence of the 

 bile, disturbance of fat resorption might at first glance seem 

 to be thoroughly explained after loss of the bile and pancre- 

 atic secretion. On closer consideration, however, this ex- 

 planation is seemingly subverted by the fact that even in a 

 case of this sort the fat which appears in considerable quanti- 

 ties in the faeces is not (as might have been expected) an in- 

 tact neutral fat, but, on the contrary, seems to be practically 

 all split up into its components. This has confused our con- 

 ceptions of the true nature of fat resorption all the more, be- 

 cause, as E. H. Starling 44 very properly remarks, we over- 

 looked the point that we should know not only whether the 

 fat has been split in the digestive tract at all, but whether 

 the cleavage occurred at the right place, that is, in the upper 

 portion of the intestine. It may take place (probably true 

 in case of diminutions of the pancreatic secretion) through 

 the agency of microorganisms only in the lower parts of the 

 intestine, where it is apparently too late, and where the 

 intestine is unable to deal with the products of cleavage. 



In view of the fact that resorption of fat is apparently 

 much more seriously interfered with when the flow of bile is 

 stopped along with that of the pancreatic fluid, than when 



42 Hanriot, J. H. Kastle and A. S. Lowenhart, O. Mohr, H. Pottevin, Ann. 

 Instit. Pasteur, 22, 901, 1906; H. Donath, 1. c.; A. E. Taylor, Jour, of Biol. 

 Chem., 2, 87, 1906-1907; W. Dietz, Zeitschr. f. physiol. Chem., 52, 279, 1907. 



43 A. Hamsik (Cech. Univ., Prague), Zeitschr. f. physiol. Chem., 59, 1, 1909; 

 65,232, 1910; 11, 238, 1911. 



** E. H. Starling, Handb. d. Biochem., 8", 230, 1909. 



