376 DIGESTION AND RESORPTION OF FATS 



rence of fat in the urine ("chyluria") is only observed, as 

 indicated beyond doubt by recent studies, 73 when there 

 happens to be an abnormal communication between the chyle 

 vessels and the urinary passages. 



Fetal Lipcemia. An interesting form of lipaemia has been 

 observed in fetal guinea pigs by A. Kreidl and his col- 

 laborators. It seems that the blood of developed guinea 

 pig fetuses is crowded with ultramicroscopic particles of 

 fat. Their presence is in no way due to corpuscular fat 

 contained in the maternal blood ; the placenta prevents the 

 corpuscular fat in the maternal circulation from passing to 

 the foetus, and vice versa. In the end, of course, the foetus 

 obtains its required fat from the mother animal, and it must 

 be assumed, therefore, that the component fatty acids and 

 glycerol are taken from the maternal blood, synthesized by 

 the placenta into fat and transmitted as such to the foetus. 

 The placenta in this matter seems to fulfil a function similar 

 to that which belongs to the secreting mammary gland 74 

 (v. infra, Chapter XVII). In human beings during preg- 

 nancy the blood becomes richer in fatty substances (espe- 

 cially cholesterine compounds and neutral fat). 75 The 

 proportion of lipoids in the placenta is maximal in the early 

 stages of pregnancy and diminishes during the course of 

 the period. 76 



Peculiar features in the migration of fat may be met in 

 many fish, as in the torpedo, the female of which, according 

 to Beach, does not take food during her pregnancy, her rich 

 supply of hepatic fat passing into the yolks to serve as the 

 most important source of energy for the embryos. 77 



"Carter, Franz and Steyskal, Magnus-Levy; Literature: A. Magnus-Levy 

 and L. F. Meyer, 1. c., 469-470. 



74 Oshima (under direction of A. Kreidl, Vienna), Centralbl. f. Physiol., 21, 

 No. 10, 1907; A. Kreidl and H. Donath, ibid., 24, No. 1, 1910. 



76 E. Herrmann and J. Neumann (S. Frankel's Lab., Vienna), Wiener klin. 

 Wochenschr., 1912, No. 12, and Biochem. Zeitschr., 48, 47, 1912. 



78 B. Bienenfeld (S. Frankel's Lab. and F. Schauta's Clinic, Vienna), 

 Biochem. Zeitschr., 43, 245, 1912, and Monatschr. f. Geburtsh., 36, 158, 1912. 



77 F. Reach, in collaboration with V. Widakowich (A. Dung's Lab., Vienna) , 

 Biochem. Zeitschr., 40, 128, 1912. 



