286 CHYLE. 



chyle contains albuminate of soda, which passes into the alcoholic 

 extract, and exerts a disturbing influence on the reaction ; this sub- 

 stance may yield the most beautiful blue solution with sulphate of 

 copper and potash, and at all events, after prolonged boiling, may 

 give a yellowish red precipitate without the chyle containing a 

 trace of sugar. The substance which is formed is the albuminate 

 of the oxide of copper, investigated by Lassaigne, which on pro- 

 longed boiling with potash likewise precipitates suboxide of 

 copper. I have never been able to detect any sugar in the chyle 

 of horses fed on bran, but the presence of this substance could be 

 determined with certainty in the case of horses which I had fed 

 for a considerable period on starch or highly amylaceous food, by 

 applying the method indicated in vol. i., p. 284 and with due 

 attention to all the precautions specified, and also by the 

 fermentation-test. It would appear, therefore, as if sugar only 

 passed into the chyle in appreciable quantities where there was an 

 excess of it in the intestine. 



Biliary constituents cannot be detected in the chyle by any 

 method hitherto attempted. (See pp. 72 and 90.) 



I have determined with certainty the presence of alkaline 

 lactates in the chyle, at least after feeding animals with amylaceous 

 food. (See vol. i., p. 95.) 



The chyle is very rich in alkalies, which are combined partly 

 with albumen, partly with lactic acid, and partly with fatty acids ; 

 hence the aqueous solution of the ash exerts a strongly alkaline 

 reaction, and effervesces with acids. 



Alkaline sulphates do not exist pre-formed in the chyle, but 

 occur in its ash. Thus, for instance, if the aqueous extract of the 

 solid residue of the chyle, after being treated with alcohol and 

 ether, be carefully neutralised with acetic acid, evaporated, and 

 again dissolved in water, filtered, and finally treated with a salt of 

 baryta after being previously acidified by nitric acid, there will not 

 be the faintest trace of turbidity nor any subsequent deposition of 

 the slightest sediment. 



We find no trace of sulphocyanides, which might possibly have 

 passed into the chyle with the saliva conveyed to the intestine; 

 at all events the salts of peroxide of iron do not impart any 

 perceptible redness to the alcoholic extract of the chyle. 



The alkaline phosphates occur only in very small quantities 

 even in the ash of the chyle produced from vegetable food. 



The chlorides of sodium and potassium are present in the chyle 

 in large quantities. Salts of ammonia, and especially the hydro- 



