302 PHYSIOLOGY OF ALIMENTATION. 



Through what channel or channels are the proteins carried 

 away from the alimentary tract? It has been found that 

 the same holds true here as in the case of the carbohydrates. 

 Under ordinary circumstances practically all the protein of 

 a meal passes from the alimentary tract through the blood- 

 vessels and only when excessive amounts are fed does a small 

 percent pass over into the lymphatic circulation. SCHMIDT- 

 MULHEIM showed this to be true when he found that the ab- 

 sorption of the proteins from the alimentary tract is not 

 impeded when the main lymphatic channels coming from 

 the alimentary tract are tied off. MUNK and RosENSTEiN's 1 

 studies on a patient with a lymphatic fistula through which 

 most of the visceral lymph was poured out externally show 

 this in a still better way. When 80 to 103 grams of lean meat 

 were fed this patient at a single meal (which more than 

 covers the entire amount of protein consumed by the ordi- 

 nary individual in a day) it was found that neither the total 

 amount of lymph nor the percent of nitrogen in the lymph 

 was markedly increased during the twelve hours following 

 the meal. L. B. MENDEL 2 has come to similar conclusions 

 from his experiments on dogs. Even when excessive amounts 

 of protein are fed scarcely more than one-fifteenth of the 

 whole amount that is absorbed passes from the alimentary 

 tract through the lymphatics. 



The relative importance of the stomach and of the intestine 

 with its attached pancreas as organs concerned in the diges- 

 tion and absorption of the proteins is somewhat difficult to 

 determine, and the data we have at our disposal vary greatly. 

 Since CZERNY, in 1878, removed the entire stomach of a dog 

 and kept him in good health for six years afterward (when he 

 was killed for study) no one has seriously questioned the 

 statement that the stomach is not essential to good health, 

 provided only a proper diet be observed. LUDWIG and OGATA 



1 MUNK and ROSENSTEIN: Ergebnisse d. Physiologic, 1902, 1, Ite 

 Abth. ; p. 312. 



2 L. B. MENDEL: American Jour, of Physiol., 1899, II, p. 137. 



