118 PHYSIOLOGICAL CHEMISTRY. 



determined by WUETZ as 0.12-0.28 p. m. The mineral bodies appear 

 to be the same as in plasma. 



As form -elements leucocytes and red blood-corpuscles are com- 

 mon to both chyle and lymph. When it has not left the connivent 

 valves chyle contains very few leucocytes, but in the vessels mov- 

 ing on the peritoneal side of the intestines it is richer in leuco- 

 cytes. The greatest quantity of leucocytes is found in the chyle 

 between the great mesenteric gland and the cisterna chyli. The 

 chyle is poorer in leucocytes in the thoracic duct, probably because 

 a mixing takes place here with lymph, from other parts of the body 

 that is poorer in form-constituents. 



The red blood-corpuscles occur in the chyle and lymph in very 

 small quantities. In these liquids, which seem to be free from 

 oxygen, the blood-corpuscles are darker-colored, and only after they 

 have come in contact with the air do they have the light-red color 

 of oxyhaemoglobin and give the surface of the fibrin clot a 

 beautiful light-red appearance. It has been suggested that this red 

 color originates from the transition forms between red and white 

 blood-corpuscles, in which blood-coloring matters are first formed by 

 the action of the oxygen. 



The chyle of starving animals has the appearance of lymph. After 

 partaking of fat or food rich in fat it is milky, and this is partly 

 due to the presence of large fat-globules, as in milk, or partly, and 

 indeed chiefly, the finely-divided fat. The nature of the fats 

 occurring in the chyle depends on the variety of fat in the food. 

 The disproportionally greater part consists of neutral fats, and even 

 after feeding with abundant amounts of free fatty acids MIHSTK and 

 LEBEDEFF found in the chyle chiefly neutral fats with a small 

 quantity of fatty acids or soaps. 



The gases of the chyle have not been studied, and it seems 

 that the gases of an entirely normal human lymph have not thus far 

 been investigated. The gases from dog-lymph contain only traces 

 of oxygen and consist of 37.4-53.1$ C0 2 and 1.6$ N (AUTHOK) calcu- 

 lated at C. and 760 mm. mercury. The chief mass of the carbon 

 dioxide of the lymph seems to be firmly chemically combined. 

 Comparative analyses of blood and lymph have shown that the 

 lymph contains more carbon dioxide than arterial but less than 

 venous blood. The tension of the carbon dioxide of lymph is, 



