Condition in which Fats are absorbed from the Intestine. 439 



hot funnel, at this temperature ; the filtrate was cooled to about C., 

 and the precipitate collected, dissolved in ether, recovered therefrom, 

 and weighed ; the weight, compared with the volume of the filtrate, 

 gave a measure of the solubility. 



3. To a series of equal volumes (10 c.c.) of bile in test-tubes, a 

 rising series of weights of fatty acids was added (O05, 0*1, 0'15, 0'2, 

 &c., grams), and those tubes noted, in which, after the lapse of a 

 sufficient time at 39 C., complete solution did not take place. 



The following is a summary of our results. 



The fatty acids are not dissolved as soaps, but probably as fatty 

 acids, for the solution becomes strongly acid ; moreover, the material 

 thrown out on cooling dissolves easily in ether, and, when recovered, 

 saponifies at once with sodium carbonate. The solution is not 

 entirely due to the bile salts, for mere removal of the " bile mucin " 

 greatly diminishes the solvent power, although the "mucin'* 

 redissolved in sodium carbonate solution has no solvent power, and, 

 again, a solution of mixed bile saltsf stronger than bile has not 

 nearly so much solvent power as the bile itself. . 



Palmitic and stearic acids are very feebly soluble in bile at 39 C., 

 and in mixtures are probably dissolved by the aid of the admixed 

 oleic acid. 



Action of Filtered Intestinal Contents on Fats. 



The filtered intestinal contents contain both pancreatic juice and 

 bile, and hence should both decompose and dissolve fats at body 

 temperature if these are absorbed as dissolved fatty acids; this 

 was experimentally found to be the case with filtered intestinal con- 

 tents of the dog, which in different cases possessed a very variable 



* The numbers given are the minimum and maximum of a number of determina- 

 tions in different samples of bile. 



t The solution used was a 9 per cent, solution of the bile salts of a sample of ox 

 bile which dissolved 2'5 per cent, of the fatty acids of beef suet ; this solution oi 

 bile salts only dissolved 1 per cent. 



VOL. LX. 2 L 



