ABSORPTION. 259 



carved in an arch, at the summit, and here Moldschott and 

 Bonders have discovered smooth contractile fibres (contrac- 

 tile cells) arranged transversely. 



This is, in short, a phenomenon of passage: the epithelium, 

 on account of its own life and its nutrition, becomes filled 

 with the product of digestion with which it was in contact, 

 and conveys this to the globular elements of the body of the 

 villus which it penetrates ; the phenomenon of diffusion is 

 then all that is necessary in order that the blood may absorb 

 the fluids which come in immediate contact with it. This 

 phenomenon of passage has been examined chiefly in regard 

 to the fats, because their optical properties render observa- 

 tion easier in their case, but the process is probably the 

 same with the other elements (albuminoses and glucoses), 

 though this cannot be directly ascertained : it is only by 

 means of the fats -that we can trace the process as it goes 

 on. 



Thus we see that in this phenomenon of passage, neither 

 the phenomena of capillarity nor of endosmosis are con- 

 cerned ; all this takes place in virtue of the special function 

 of the epithelial cells, and of the plasmatic elements of the 

 body of the villus ; having arrived at this point the absorbed 

 fluids only require to be diffused in order to spread through- 

 out the organism, by means of organs which we shall 

 study presently. 1 The passage of the sugars and the albumi- 



1 It is interesting to compare this statement, quoted word for 

 word from Kiiss's lectures, with what Cl. Bernard has written in 

 a recent publication : 



" Recent investigations, which are still unpublished, lead me to 

 believe that digestive absorption is of an entirely different nature 

 from all ordinary absorption. I have seen the pyloric glands of a 

 frog disappear during winter, when digestion ceased, and reappear 

 in the spring, when digestion recommences. Experiments which 

 I have made seem to show that on the surface of the intestinal 

 mucous membrane there takes place an actual generation of epi- 

 thelial elements which attract the alimentary fluids, elaborate 

 them, and then, by means of a kind of osmosis, pour them, into 

 the vessels. Digestion is not, therefore, simply a direct alimentary 

 absorption. The aliments dissolved and decomposed by the diges- 

 tive juices in the intestine simply form a generating blastema, in 

 which the digestive epithelial elements find the materials of their 

 composition and of their functional activity. In short, I do not 

 believe in what may be called direct digestion. There is an organic 

 or vital intermediate process. This is not simply a chemical solu- 

 tion, as most physiologists have imagined. 1 hope, in time, to be 



