394 ANATOMICAL AND PATHOLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS. 



contrasting strongly with tlie semi-transparency of the 

 surrounding texture, Eepeated examinations of these pre- 

 parations satisfied me that Dr. William Hunter and Mr. 

 Cruikshank were quite correct in describing and figuring 

 radiating lacteals within the villi, but that they were led into 

 error in describing those vessels as opening on the free surface 

 of the gut, partly by imperfect instruments and methods of 

 observation, partly by the general prejudice of the period in 

 favour of absorbent orifices. I also satisfied myself of what 

 appeared highly probable from the commencement of the 

 observations, that the villi, when turgid with chyle, were 

 destitute of their ordinary epithelial covering.* This circum- 

 stance I could not avoid connecting with the fact of the 

 stomach throwing off its epithelia during tlie process of 

 digestion. I determined, therefore, to investigate the process 

 of absorption of chyle in fresh subjects, as the facts exhibited 

 in Mr. Cruikshank's preparations indicated the probable 

 existence of complicated processes going on in villi during 

 digestion. The analogy of the vesicular bulbous extremity of 

 the villus, to the spongiole of the vegetable, forced itself upon 

 me, and the existence of milky chyle, within closed cells, led 

 me to anticipate an explanation of some of the phenomena 

 of digestion. 



A dog was fed. Three hours afterwards he was killed. 

 The lacteals were turgid, and the gut was found to be full of 

 milky chyme, with an admixture of thin brownish fluid of a 

 bilious appearance. The milky matter was situated princi- 

 pally towards the mucous' membrane ; the brown fluid 

 occupied the cavity of the gut. 



The white matter consisted of a transparent fluid, with a 

 few oil-globules and numerous epithelia. 



Some of the epithelia I recognised as those which cover 

 the villi. They were pointed at their attached extremities, 



* This opinion was subsequently abandoned by the author. — (Ed.?.) 



