ITS FUNCTIONS. 117 



immediately below the ligature, but above the mouths of the ducts; 

 in the course of six or eight hours the contents of the intestinal 

 canal certainly contained some butyric acid; the same occurred 

 when the ductus choledochus was at the same time tied. Hence 

 the power which the pancreatic juice possesses in the formation of 

 butyric acid, is impeded by the gastric juice. The converse 

 experiment in the laboratory, with a specimen of pancreatic juice 

 (from a large dog) at a temperature of 37, shows that the gastric 

 juice here acts only as a dilute acid, and may be replaced with a pre- 

 cisely similar result by equally diluted lactic, tartaric, or acetic acid. 



Moreover, I have not found any confirmation of Bernard's 

 experiment on rabbits (although it is one that may be easily 

 repeated), in which he observed that after feeding them with fat, 

 the milky injection of the lacteals could only be perceived beneath 

 the opening of Wirsung's duct. Bidder and Schmidt have, how- 

 ever, discovered how Bernard was led into this error, for on inject- 

 ing butter into the gullet of rabbits, they found that after two 

 hours, the lacteals given off between the pylorus and the mouth of 

 the pancreatic duct, were fully distended with milky chyle very 

 rich in fat; if the animals were killed four hours after the injection 

 of the fat, the lacteals situated eight or ten centimetres j^about 

 three or four inches] above the mouth of the duct were still filled ; 

 if they were killed six hours afterwards, only those below the mouth 

 of the pancreatic duct were thus injected; and finally, if they 

 were not killed for eight or ten hours, the first lacteals well 

 injected with milky chyle were found to be situated from 20 to 30 

 centimetres [from eight to twelve inches] below the opening of 

 the duct. Hence it must have been by always killing the animals 

 six or eight hours after feeding them with fat, that Bernard was 

 able apparently to maintain his view. The facts of the case were 

 simply these. The chyle had already passed onwards from the 

 lymphatics proceeding from the first portion of the duodenum, and 

 there was no more fat to be absorbed in that portion of the 

 intestine, when Bernard began the investigation. 



Frerichs has also overthrown another and an earlier view of 

 Bernard's, namely, that the pancreatic juice acidified with hydro- 

 chloric acid might take the place of the gastric juice in relation to 

 the coagulated protein-bodies. 



Lastly, Frerichs is of opinion that as the decomposition of the 

 bile is very much hastened by the pancreatic juice, this property is 

 of some importance in effecting the rapid conversion of the bile into 

 insoluble products incapable of resorption. 



