DIGESTION. 



A diminished absorption (of water) may be caused by a more 

 active movement of the intestine, which causes their contents to 

 pass quickly, and in this way the action of laxatives is often ex- 

 plained. A diminished absorption may also be due to a decreased 

 activity of the absorbing cells. In absorption, which is generally 

 accepted to-day, the cells of the mucous coat take an active part, 

 and anything which acts disturbingly on the protoplasm of these 

 cells must also exercise an influence on the absorption. This con- 

 dition with regard to the action of laxatives has been especially 

 noted by HOPPE-SEYLER. According to him, it is also probable 

 that such laxatives, of which only traces are required for absorption, 

 by a direct action on the intestinal epithelium whether the absorp- 

 tion is made more difficult, or a transudation made possible, or 

 whether the action of these two is simultaneous cause watery 

 evacuations. According to ROHMANK, concentrated salt solutions 

 act by a decreased absorption activity. 



A thin evacuation may be produced by an increased elimination 

 of fluid into the intestine, and there are many investigators who 

 consider it positively proved that a transudation of liquid into the 

 intestine is caused by the action of saline laxatives. 



The character of the intestinal epithelium is undoubtedly an 

 important factor in the production of such a transudation, and 

 when this is caused by the saline laxatives it probably is produced 

 by action on the epithelium. We must admit with HOPPE-SEYLER 

 and other investigators that the most important regulator of the 

 flow of liquid through the intestinal mucous membrane is the 

 intestinal epithelium. It is the epithelium which renders possible 

 the stream of fluid contrary to the laws of osmose, and which 

 under normal conditions prevents a trausudation into the intes- 

 tines. Bodies which affect the epithelium may therefore cause a 

 transudation, and this is found to be especially abundant after 

 ejection of the intestinal epithelium. The most striking example 

 of this is observed in Asiatic cholera, in which the epithelium is 

 largely expulsed and an extraordinarily abundant transudation 

 takes place. 



