260 DIGESTIVE SYSTEM. 



noids could be explained, up to a certain point, by means of 

 the physical theories of osmosis, but the passage of the 

 lilts was an insoluble problem, of which the only explanation 

 that could be offered was that emulsion took place, or even 

 decomposition or disengagement followed by reconstitution. 

 We have seen that this is not the case, and that the fat is 

 naturally absorbed. This view is confirmed by what so fre- 

 quently takes place in other parts of the organism : the plas- 

 matic cells of the deep layers of the dermis, and those of the 

 mesentery, are quickly filled with a quantity of fat which 

 they abstract from the blood, when the latter gets saturated 

 with it by means of abundant nourishment; this fat is some- 

 times very quickly given up again, when the animal grows 

 suddenly lean, as in the case of a cholera patient whose 

 orbital fat disappears in a few hours. The fatty cells may 

 then be observed to lose their fat, which is replaced by a 

 serous fluid, which disappears in its turn, while the globule 

 returns to its typical condition of a plasmatic globule; it 

 cannot be urged that the influence of any special dissolving 

 fluid is here exerted. 



This fact can hardly be explained except by supposing 

 that, in order to penetrate the economy, the fatty substances 

 form, with the albuminoid substances', special combinations 

 which may be compared with what we find in the medullary 

 substance of the nerves ; this instance of reabsorption may 

 also be made use of in endeavoring to discover by what vas- 

 cular organs the absorbed fat is carried off, whether by the 

 blood vessels or the chyliferous vessels. 



"We have now to see what becomes of the epithelial cells 

 which assist the passage, and what becomes of the substances 

 which pass. 



B. Intestinal desquamation. Bile. 



After having conveyed the absorbed fluids (especially the 

 fat, as may most readily be ascertained) to the tissue of the 



able to show what conclusions we must draw from these new ideas 

 on the subject." (Cl. Bernard, " De la Physiologic Generale." 

 Notes, 1872, p. 283.) And farther on (p. 287), CL Bernard adds: 

 '* If the cells on the surface of the intestine be withdrawn trom 

 the work of digestion, atrophy speedily ensues. Thus I have 

 found, on isolating a loop of the intestine in such a manner as 

 to prevent the passage of the food, that atrophy of the mucous 

 membrane soon followed, although the circulation went on as 

 usual." 



