CHAP. XXV.] CHYLIFICATION. 239 



At this period an abundant quantity of loose epithelium is in 

 contact with the mucous membrane, and surrounds the villi ; and 

 the sheaths of the latter seem to adhere very loosely to them, and 

 may be much more readily detached than when the digestive pro- 

 cess is not going on. 



Mingled with the abundant mucus of the intestine, we find at 

 this period very numerous white flocculi of a soft, loose, curdy 

 material, the whiteness of which is conspicuous in the midst of 

 other matters, which are more or less coloured from intermixture 

 with bile. And, at the same time, the plexus of lacteal vessels, 

 which is formed beneath the mucous membrane, and from which the 

 larger lacteal vessels proceed through the mesentery to the mesen- 

 teric glands, is filled with a white fluid of the exact colour and 

 appearance of milk, commonly called the cliyle. 



The display of the lacteal vessels filled with white chyle, at this 

 period, is one of the most interesting sights among the many 

 wonderful objects which engage the observation and the attention of 

 the anatomist. 



The white flocculent matter is most abundant in the duodenum 

 and jejunum, and there the villi are most numerous; thence, like- 

 wise, proceed the greatest number of lacteal vessels. Lower down 

 in the small intestine, the flocculi gradually become less and less 

 numerous, and ultimately disappear, the contents of the intestine 

 consisting of a more or less fluid mass, apparently homogeneous, 

 and coloured by bile. At the same time the villi become fewer 

 and smaller, the number of lacteal vessels diminishes, and the 

 glandular apparatus of the intestinal mucous membrane is more 

 developed and distinct. 



The occurrence of the flocculent matter, in that part of the 

 intestine where the absorbing organs and the chyliferous vessels are 

 most numerous, denotes that it must be regarded as constituting 

 the nascent condition of that fluid which at this period fills the 

 lacteal vessels and gives them their white colour the chyle. It 

 appears like a precipitate from the general mass of the intestinal 

 contents, and many distinguished physiologists have regarded it in 

 that light, and have attributed its precipitation to the addition of the 

 biliary and pancreatic fluids to the chymous mass which has been 

 pushed on from the stomach into the intestines. 



This flocculent matter consists of a multitude of minute mole- 

 cules apparently of a fatty nature (as they disappear under the 

 action of ether), mingled with larger oil-globules, and also of num- 

 bers of particles of columnar epithelium containing within them 



