118 THE INTESTINAL JUICE. 



THE INTESTINAL JUICE. 



Our knowledge is very slight regarding the fluids secreted by 

 the glandular organs of the intestinal mucous membrane. This 

 depends in a great measure on the difficulty of obtaining these 

 secretions isolated from the remains of food, from the secretions of 

 the liver and the pancreas, and from the products of digestion. On 

 this point, also, Frerichs* has thrown some light ; previously to his 

 researches, our theories on this subject were based rather on 

 subjective views than on objective facts. 



Frerichs has shown that it is in the highest degree probable that 

 the lenticular capsules which occur in the small intestine, partly 

 as solitary glands and partly in heaps as Peyer's glands, only con- 

 tribute slightly to the formation of the intestinal juice; these 

 lenticular glandules are, as is well known, shut sacs, which only 

 rarely, and for the most part when in a morbid condition, burst, and 

 thus discharge their contents on the mucous membrane of the 

 intestine. By exposing these minute sacs to the action of the 

 compressorium, Frerichs ascertained that they contained an alka- 

 line fluid, which was coagulated by acetic acid, the turbidity being 

 dependent on the presence of molecular granules and morpho- 

 logical elements resembling cell-nuclei. In typhus and other con- 

 ditions which are associated with intumescence of Peyer's patches, 

 and with prominence of the individual spherical capsules, the 

 correctness of these views may be very readily confirmed. Hence 

 Frerichs is fully justified in regarding the pouch-like glands which 

 in the small intestine are known as the glands of Lieberkuhn, and 

 in the colon, as the follicles of the large intestine, and which occur 

 in great numbers and are of very considerable size, as the true 

 secreting organs of the intestinal juice. The chemical examination 

 of the intestinal juice also shows that the fluids secreted in the small 

 and in the large intestine are perfectly identical. Frerichs obtained 

 this secretion for examination by applying ligatures to pieces of 

 intestine from four to eight inches in length in cats and dogs, after 

 having, as completely as possible, removed the contents of the gut 

 by pressure; he then returned the intestine into the abdominal 

 cavity, and killed the animal in four or six hours. In the piece of 



* Op. cit. 



