614 DIGESTION. 



animals, that had swallowed pebbles while fasting, more albumen than 

 the pancreatic juice could account for. If such be the fact, albumen 

 must be either developed from the food, or secreted from the mucous 

 membrane. 



There is a striking resemblance in chemical properties between the 

 pancreatic juice and saliva; and the views applicable to both one and 

 the other, embraced, as the result of numerous experiments by MM. 

 Bernard and Barreswil, have been already stated. The recent experi- 

 ments of M. C. Bernard 1 have shed important light on this matter. 

 Exposure of fatty bodies to the pancreatic juice out of the body pro- 

 duced at once a complete emulsion, and resolved them ino glycerin and 

 fatty acid; in the case of butter, butyric acid; whilst no such effect 

 was produced on such bodies by admixture with other fluids saliva, 

 gastric juice, or serum of the blood, for example. These experiments 

 were frequently repeated with like results in the presence of distin- 

 guished observers MM. Magendie, B^rard, Andral, &c. When dogs 

 to which fatty substances had been given were killed during digestion, 

 these substances were found unaltered until they came in contact with 

 the pancreatic fluid; and if the duct of the pancreas was tied all change 

 was prevented. It would seem, therefore, that although the pancreatic 

 fluid resembles the saliva in many respects so much so, indeed, that 

 the pancreas has been styled " the abdominal salivary gland," it is pos- 

 sessed of properties as a digestive fluid which the saliva has not. In a 

 remark upon a subsequent me'moire by M. Bernard the commission, 

 consisting of MM. Magendie, Milne Edwards and Dumas do not hesi- 

 tate to conclude, that M. Bernard has completely established the 

 physiological office of the pancreas and made known the mechanism 

 of the digestion of fatty matters. 2 



The influence of the temperature of the interior of the intestine, and 

 of the peristaltic motion, on chylification, can be looked upon as only 

 accessory and indirect. 



"Whilst the chyme is passing through the small intestine, it is sub- 

 jected to the action of the chyliferous vessels, which extract from it 

 the nutritious part or chyle, the fluid especially destined for the re- 

 novation of the blood. How this is accomplished will be treated of 

 under the head of Absorption. In proportion as this absorption is 

 effected, the chyme changes its properties. In the commencement of 

 the jejunum, it is the same as in the duodenum; but, lower down, the 

 grayish layer, that existed at its surface, is observed to gradually dis- 

 appear. It assumes greater consistence; its yellow colour becomes 

 more marked; and, in the ileum, it has a greenish or brownish tint; and 

 from being acid becomes alkaline, until, at the lower part of the small 

 intestine, it seems to be the useless residue of the alimentary matter, 

 and the various secretions from the upper portion of the digestive ap- 

 paratus. It is now mere excrementitious matter or faeces, although not 

 possessing the entire fecal odour. Its alkaline character has generally 

 been ascribed to admixture with the bile, pancreatic fluid, and the secre- 



1 Archives Generates, xiv.; translated in the Provincial Medical and Surgical Journal for 

 March 31, 1849. 



2 Gazette Medicale, No. 9, Paris, 1849. 



