720 INTERNAL SECRETIONS AND PRESERVATION OF LIFE. 



stant constituents of the white cells come certain fats. Among 

 these the most conspicuous is the complex fatty body, lecithin" 

 As we now know that the nuclei of all leucocytes are similar in 

 composition, this can only apply to their granules. 



This involves the necessity of differentiating between the 

 two kinds of granules present, the acidophiles (neutrophiles and 

 eosinophiles) and basophiles. Professor Poster points to this 

 distinction, it seems to us, when he says: "next in importance 

 to the proteids; etc." The basophilic granules are evidently not 

 composed of nucleo-proteids: a fact which eliminates the acido- 

 phile cells and their granules. Indeed, we have confirmatory 

 evidence that it is not the latter which contain lecithin in the 

 following allusion to both kinds of acidophile granules by 

 Milroy and Malcolm: "The fact that neither alcohol nor ether 

 dissolves the granules excludes the possibility that they consist 

 of fat or lecithin." 



How do basophile cells acquire their lecithin-building con- 

 stituents? As is well known, emulsified fats also penetrate the 

 intestinal villi, but, instead of entering as do nucleo-proteids 

 into the venules, they enter the lymphatic circulation directly, 

 by way of the lacteals. Are they absorbed by the villi, and then 

 by the lacteals, or are they also taken up by leucocytes and 

 carried into the latter? Inasmuch as the lymph contained in 

 the lymphatic vessels is itself crowded with leucocytes similar 

 to some of those found in the blood-stream, we must first ascer- 

 tain whether these leucocytes in any way leave the lymphatic 

 circulation in the intestine as they evidently do when the 

 lymph-ducts open into the general venous system at the junc- 

 tion of the internal jugular and the subclavian veins on both 

 sides. 



It may prove useful, however, to first recall the fact that 

 the so-called "chyme" and "chyle" represent the same liquid, 

 i.e., the lymph, and that these terms were suggested by a tem- 

 porary quantitative difference in the constituents of the lymph 

 in the mesenteric lymphatics, which are greatly increased dur- 

 ing the process of absorption. Again, it may also be well to 

 refer to the fact that lymph is merely blood-plasma practically 

 devoid of red corpuscles, but containing lymphocytes and 

 coarsely-granular basophile leucocytes, and, besides, minute fat- 



