568 JEJUNUM AND ILIUM. 



like those of the sublingual gland, discharge separately 

 FIG. 183. into the duodenum. The secretion of these 

 glands is supposed to be like that of the pan- 

 creas or salivary glands. 



The arteries of the duodenum come from the 

 hepatic, splenic, and superior mesenteric. The 

 veins go to the vena portae. The nerves come 

 from the solar plexus. 

 Function. The duodenum completes the process of diges- 

 tion, by changing the chyme, formed in the stomach, into 

 chyle, and this by means of the bile and pancreatic juice 

 poured into it from the liver and pancreas, through the 

 common duct the ductus communis choledoclius. 



The operation of the bile upon the chyme, is to separate 

 it into three portions one falls to the bottom, as a reddish 

 brown sediment another occupies the top, as a creamy 

 pellicle, while the third remains in the centre, like fluid 

 whey. 



The action of the pancreatic fluid, about which there has 

 been nothing but conjecture, seems to be pretty fairly de- 

 termined by the recent experiments of M. Bernard, which 

 go to show that this fluid decomposes, and holds in solu- 

 tion the fatty matters of the chyme, an effect, he asserts, 

 which neither gastric juice, bile, saliva, nor any other agent 

 can produce.* It is by the conjoint action of these two 

 fluids upon the chyme, that another fluid, of the color and 

 consistence of milk, is formed, called chyle, which is taken 

 up by the lacteals of the villi, and introduced into the 

 system. 



THE JEJUNUM AND ILIUM. 



The jejunum, (jejunus, empty,) so called from being found 

 frequently empty; and the ilium, (from xv. to twist,) 

 are situated in the umbilical, hypogastric, and iliac regions. 

 The jejimum commences in the left lumbar, and the ilium 



Fie. 183 represents one of the Glands of Brunner. as seen at the commence- 

 ment of the duodenum magnified a hundred times. 

 * See Ohio Medical and Surgical Journal, Vol. 1, No. 1, page 6J, 1848. 



