CHAP. XXV.] FUNCTION OF THE PANCREAS. 249 



characters above described of viscidity and alkalinity, with olive 

 oil, and shaking the fluids well together, a perfect emulsion is 

 formed, and a liquid similar to milk or chyle is the result. A 

 similar effect is produced by the admixture of pancreatic juice and 

 fresh butter, or of mutton stiet, or hog's lard, care being taken 

 to expose the mixture in a sand-bath, to a temperature of from 95 

 to 100 Fahr., so as to melt the butter and suet, and afterwards to 

 shake the mixture well. 



So perfect is the emulsion formed by means of the action of the 

 normal pancreatic fluid upon fatty matters, that the mixture, if left 

 from fifteen to eighteen hours at a temperature of from 95 to 100, 

 continues to exhibit the same colour and appearance, nor does any 

 separation take place between the fatty matter and the pancreatic 

 fluid. It appears, nevertheless, that the fat is not simply divided 

 and made into an emulsion, but that it has undergone a chemical 

 change into glycerine, and a fatty acid ; the fluid which immedi- 

 ately after the admixture was distinctly alkaline, becomes, after 

 remaining five or six hours, as distinctly acid. In the tube in 

 which butter had been submitted to the action of the pancreatic 

 juice, butyric acid was easily recognised at a distance by its 

 characteristic odour. 



We find that on rubbing up a piece of quite recent pancreas 

 taken from an animal killed during the digestive process, with fat 

 or lard, and a little water at a temperature of 95 to 100, a very 

 perfect white emulsion is quickly formed. 



Bernard instituted experiments to ascertain whether other 

 animal fluids possessed this power over oily or fatty matter. The 

 fluids tried were bile, saliva, gastric juice, serum of blood, and 

 cerebro-spinal fluid ; but none of them were found to cause any 

 permanent change, either mechanical or chemical, in the substances 

 submitted to their influence. 



It also appears, from Bernard's experiments, and this is a point 

 which may throw some light on certain forms of dyspepsia, that in 

 order that the pancreatic fluid should exercise its perfect action, it 

 must be strictly normal. Bernard found that what he calls the 

 abnormal fluid, namely, that which exhibits no viscidity, which is 

 watery and does not coagulate by heat, has no effect upon fatty 

 substances. 



To complete the proof of the special action of the pancreatic 

 fluid in the digestion of fatty matters, Bernard states that he has 

 tied in the dog the two pancreatic ducts, of which the smaller 

 opens quite close to the choledoch duct, and the larger about three 



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