INFLUENCE OF THE NERVOUS SYSTEM. 359 



present would at least be highly probable. The fatty acids, in their 

 passage through the intestinal wall, are retransformed with fixation of 

 glycerin into neutral fats. They pass, in part, through the blood-vessels. 



The intestine of distomum hepaticum may be considered as a truly classical 

 object-lesson for a study of the cells of the intestine in their functional activity 

 and of the manner in which they accomplish the absorption of solid substances 

 by means of their pseudopod-like processes. Sommer has admirably depicted 

 the conditions, and the author convinced himself of the accuracy of the represen- 

 tation by personal observation of the preparations. Metschnikoff noted similar 

 conditions in celenterates, Du Plessis in turbellaria, Greenwood in earth-worms. 



If carmine or India-ink is mixed with the food of rabbits, a deposition of 

 either granular pigment takes place in Peyer's patches and in the lymph-cells. 



Pathological. In the presence of severe intestinal disease, injury to and al- 

 teration in the epithelial cells of the intestine appear to be caused .by a poison 

 elaborated in the bowel, as, for example, in cases of cholera and cholera infantum. 



INFLUENCE OF THE NERVOUS SYSTEM. 



Little is known with certainty concerning the influence of the nervous 

 system upon the processes of absorption in the intestinal tract. After 

 division of the mesenteric nerve-filaments, the intestinal contents be- 

 come abundant and watery. This may be due, in part, to deficient 

 absorption, as well as to an increased, paralytic secretion of the intestinal 

 juice, although it is as yet impossible to determine with certainty to 

 what extent transudation into the intestine on the part of the vessels 

 participates in this process. After extirpation of the sympathetic 

 ganglia of the abdomen, symptoms of paralysis of the intestine appear, 

 with exhausting diarrhea, finally terminating fatally; acetone is also 

 present in the urine. Of especial interest is the observation of v. Than- 

 hoffer, who noted the protrusion of filaments from the protoplasm of 

 the epithelial cells of the small intestine only when the medulla oblongata 

 or the dorsal nerves had been divided some time previously. 



NOURISHMENT BY MEANS OF "NUTRITIVE ENEMATA." 



In those desperate cases in human beings in which administration of food 

 by the mouth is impossible, c. g., in the presence of stenosis of the esophagus 

 or of persistent vomiting, resort has been had to the procedure adopted by Corn. 

 Celsus, namely, rectal alimentation. As the large intestine is capable of scarcely 

 any digestive activity it is best to introduce fluid material capable of absorption, 

 which is permitted to flow slowly, by its own weight, into the anus, preferably 

 through a long tube provided with a funnel. The recipient must endeavor to 

 retain the material for as long a time as possible. By means of slow and gradual 

 injection, the fluid at times may even pass beyond the ileo-cecal valve. Particles 

 of proteid substances, saturated with a solution of sodium chlorid, may even pass 

 through the small intestine into the stomach, where they may be digested. 



Nitrogenous substances are to be recommended for this purpose: eggs rubbed 

 up into an emulsion with an aqueous solution of sodium chlorid, peptone or pro- 

 peptone; less well, milk and egg-albumin with sodium chlorid. The commercial 

 preparations of peptone are made by digestion with pepsin, by vegetable ferments 

 or by superheated water, and they often contain much propeptone. An adult 

 should receive daily 120 grams, a child 50 grams of meat-peptone; Leube ad- 

 vises from 50 to 80 grams dissolved in 250 cu. cm. of water. In addition, as a 

 stimulant and as food-sparer, tea with wine may be given. Leube introduces 

 into the rectum a pasty mixture consisting of 150 grams of meat with 50 grams 

 of reddened pancreatic tissue and 100 grams of water, and it is believed that 

 proteids are peptonized and absorbed here. In addition, as much as 50 grams 

 of grape-sugar dissolved so as to make 300 cu. cm., or starch-paste and dilute lake- 

 colored blood may be employed; also fat-emulsions (not more than 10 grams of 

 fat daily) ; mixed with pancreatic paste, as much as 50 grams of fat can be given. 



