CHYLE. 



287 



liver appropriately terms the molecular base of chyle. Their 

 number, and consequently the opac- 

 ity of the chyle, are dependent upon 

 the quantity of fatty matter con- 

 tained in the food. Hence, as a 

 rule, the chyle is whitish and most 

 turbid in carnivorous animals ; less 

 so in Herbivora ; while in birds it is 

 usually transparent. The fatty na- 

 ture of the molecules is made mani- 

 fest by their solubility in ether, and, 

 when the ether evaporates, by their 

 being deposited in various-sized drops 

 of oil. 1 Yet, since they do not run 

 together and form a larger drop, as 

 particles of oil would, it appears very 

 probable that each molecule consists 

 of oil coated over with albumen, in 

 the manner in which, as Ascherson 

 observed, oil always becomes covered 

 when set free in minute drops in an 

 albuminous solution. And this view 

 is supported by the fact, that when 

 water or dilute acetic acid is added 

 to chyle, many of the molecules are 

 lost sight of, and oil-drops appear in P hatic s land - 3 < with its com - 

 their place, as if the investments of ponent cellsfilled with mercury 



r , , 111 j- i j and having three sets of afferent 



the molecules had been dissolved, vessels ^ ^ ^ leading into it 



and their oily Contents had run to- and one set of efferent vessels, 2, 



gether. passing out from it. The arrows 



Except these molecules, the chyle indicate the course of the lymph 



taken from the villi Or from lacteals in these vessels. The varicose or 



near them contains no other solid or SS7^T? 



Organized bodies. 1 lie fluid in Which phatic vesse l somewhat enlarged, 

 the molecules float is albuminOUS, and cut through, to show the 

 and does not Spontaneously COagU- Httle double valves in its interior. 

 , , . i i 11 v IT. jj- c, lymph-corpuscles, one granu- 



late, though coagulable by the addi- ^ J three fcreated wlth dilute 

 tion of ether. But as the chyle passes acet i c acid, showing the envelope 



On towards the thoracic duct, and and the pale nucleus ; also some 

 especially while it traverses One Or finer granules and oil-particles 



more of the mesenteric glands (pro- free - Magnified 400 diameters. 



pelled by forces which have been 



described with the structure of the vessels), it is elaborated. 



(Mascagni), a, plan of a lyi 



1 Some of the molecules may remain undissolved by the ether; but 

 this appears to bo due to their being defended from the action of the 

 ether by bein^ entangled within the albumen which it coagulates. 



