FAT ABSORPTION. 515 



others, it has been shown that the exclusion of the bile from the intes- 

 tinal tract diminishes the absorption of fat to such an extent that only 

 one-seventh to about one-half of the quantity of fat ordinarily absorbed 

 undergoes absorption. In icterus with entire exclusion of the bile, a 

 considerable decrease in the absorption of fat is noticed. As under 

 normal conditions, so also in the absence of bile in the intestine, the lower 

 melting parts of the fat are more completely absorbed than those which 

 have a high melting-point. I. MUNK found in his experiments on dogs 

 with lard and mutton-tallow that the absorption of the high-melting 

 tallow was reduced twice as much as the lard on the exclusion of the 

 bile from the intestine. 



We also learn from the investigations of ROHM ANN and I. MUNK 

 that in the absence of bile the relation between fatty acids and 

 neutral fats is changed, namely, about 80-90 per cent of the fat existing 

 in the feces consists of fatty acid, while under normal conditions the 

 feces contain 1 part neutral fat to about 2-2 J parts free fatty acids. 

 It is not possible to state how this increased quantity of fatty acids in 

 the fat of the feces is produced upon the exclusion of the bile from the 

 intestine. 



There is no doubt that the bile is of great importance in the absorp- 

 tion of fats. Still there is also no doubt that rather considerable quan- 

 tities of fat may be absorbed from the intestine in the absence of bile. 

 What relation does the pancreatic juice bear to this fact? 



Upon this point a rather large number of observations on animals 

 have been made by ABELMANN and MINKOWSKI, SANDMEYER, HARLEY, 

 ROSENBERG, HEDON and VILLE, and also on man by FR. MULLER and 

 DEUCHER. 1 In all of these investigations a more or less diminished 

 absorption of fat was observed after the extirpation or destruction of 

 the gland, or the exclusion of the juice from the intestine. The results 

 are very diverse as to the extent of this diminution, as in certain cases 

 no absorption of fat was observed, while, in other cases, a considerable 

 absorption was noted in the same class of animal (dog) and even in the 

 same animal. According to MINKOWSKI and ABELMANN, after the total 

 extirpation of the pancreas the fat of the food introduced is not absorbed 

 at all, with the exception of milk, of which 28-53 per cent of the fat is 

 absorbed. Other investigators have obtained other results, and HARLEY 

 has observed a case where in a dog an absorption of only 4 per cent of 

 the milk fat, or, on the complete exclusion of intestinal bacteria, even 



1 Miiller, "Unters. iiber den Icterus," Zeitschr. f. klin. Med., 12; H&ion and Ville, 

 Arch, de Physiol. (5), 9; Harley, Journ. of Physiol., 18, Journ. of Pathol. and Bacteriol., 

 1895, and Proceed. Roy. Soc., 61. In regard to the other authors see footnote 2, 

 p. 508. 



