CHAP. XXV.] FUNCTION OF THE PANCREAS. 247 



has been lately studied with great care by M. Bernard, from whose 

 clear and admirable memoir the following account of it is derived. 



The pancreatic fluid may be procured most readily, and in 

 greatest quantity, at the commencement of the digestive process. 

 Bernard obtained it from the dog in the following manner ; the 

 animal having been well fed, after a fast of some hours, an inci- 

 sion was was made into the abdomen below the margin of the ribs 

 sufficiently large to enable the operator to draw out the duodenum, 

 and with it a portion of the pancreas. The larger of the two pan- 

 creatic ducts was now rapidly isolated, and opened with fine 

 scissors, and into this opening a silver tube was introduced and 

 fixed in the duct by a ligature. The intestine and pancreas were 

 replaced, and the wound in the abdomen closed by suture, the free 

 extremity of the tube being allowed to project through it. To the 

 silver tube was now attached a small caoutchouc bag, perfectly 

 exhausted of air, and to the opposite end of this another similar 

 tube was fixed. The pancreatic fluid flowed freely through the first 

 tube into the caoutchouc bag and accumulated there; and as 

 much as two drachms and a quarter were collected in five hours 

 and a half. The fluid flowed from the tube freely drop by drop. 



When this operation was performed at the commencement of 

 digestion, Bernard obtained between half-past seven A.M., and five 

 P.M., four drachms and one third of the fluid, making an average of 

 nearly half a drachm an hour. 



On the following day, when signs of inflammation had shown 

 themselves in the wound, more than four drachms of the fluid were 

 obtained in one hour and a quarter. The quantity of the secretion 

 was considerably increased, 'but its quality was altered its con- 

 sistence being much diminished, and its physiological properties 

 materially changed. 



When the experiment was performed on an animal in which the 

 digestive process was fully established, the quantity of fluid 

 obtained was much less than at the earlier period, but its quality 

 much the same. During abstinence, only a very small quantity of 

 the pancreatic juice could be obtained at the time of the operation; 

 but the following day, when the wound became inflamed, a fluid 

 much altered in quality flowed out very freely. 



If the operation were slowly performed, so as to expose the 

 intestine long to the action of the air, and to irritate it and the 

 gland, the quantity and quality of the secretion were much altered. 



As the characters of the pancreatic fluid vary so readily with 

 the circumstances attending the operation of obtaining it, Bernard 



