538 DIGESTION. 



than fluid lipanin. The extent of absorption in the intestinal tract is, 

 under physiological conditions, very considerable. In the case of a 

 dog investigated by VOIT it was found that out of 350 grams of fat 

 (butter) partaken, 346 grams were absorbed from the intestinal canal, 

 and according to the investigations of RUBNER 1 the human intestine 

 can absorb over 300 grams of fat per diem. The fats are, according 

 to RUBNER, much more completely absorbed when free, in the form of 

 butter or lard, than when inclosed in cell-membranes, as in bacon. 



CLAUDE BERNARD showed long ago with experiments on rabbits in 

 which the ductus choledochus was made to open into the small intestine 

 above the pancreatic duct, that after food rich in fats the chylous vessels 

 of the intestine above the pancreas passages were transparent, while 

 below they were milk-white, and also that the bile alone cannot pro- 

 duce an absorption of the emulsified fat without the pancreatic juice. 

 DASTRE 2 has performed the reverse experiment on dogs. He tied the 

 ductus choledochus and adjusted a biliary fistula so that the bile flowed 

 into the intestine below the mouth of the pancreatic passages. On 

 killing the animal after a meal rich in fat the chylous vessels were first 

 found milk-white below the discharge of the biliary fistula. From this 

 DASTRE draws the conclusion that a combined action of the bile and pan- 

 creatic juice is important in the absorption of fats a conclusion which 

 stands in accord with the experience of many others. 



Through numerous observations of many investigators, such as 

 BIDDER and SCHMIDT, VOIT, ROHMANN, FR. MULLER, I. MUNK, S and 

 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 ROHMANN 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 



1 Voit, Zeitschr. f. Biologie, 9; Rubner, ibid., 15. 



2 Arch, de Physiol. (5), 2. 



3 F. Miiller, Sitzungsber. der phys.-med. Gesellsch. zu Wiirzburg, 1885; I. Mimk, 

 Virchow's Arch., 122. See also footnotes 4 and 5, p. 518. 



