DIGESTIVE FLUIDS. 



101 



the Germans the abdominal salivary gland; its secretion, 

 however, is much more important. The pancreatic juice, 

 which is a viscid alkaline fluid containing an albuminoid 

 principle, has a most powerful 

 action in converting starch into 

 sugar, and has the advantage over 

 saliva, that this action is not pre- 

 vented by the presence of acid. It 

 has also the property, at the tem- 

 perature of the body, of making a 

 very complete emulsion, or milky 

 fluid, with oils; that is to say, it 

 resolves them into exceedingly min- 

 ute globules, which remain separate 

 from one another ; and these find 

 their way through the walls of the 

 villi into the absorbent vessels. In 

 rabbits the duct of the pancreas 

 opens into the intestine considerably 

 lower than the bile duct ; and in 

 them, as Bernard has observed, 

 there are no oil globules in the ab- 

 sorbent vessels above the level of 

 the pancreatic duct; which shows Fig. 

 that the bile is incapable of digest- 

 ing fats without the pancreatic juice. 

 This fluid has likewise been shown 

 to have a solvent action on albumi- 

 noids outside the body ; and it is 



56. DUODENUM, 

 vertical section magni- 

 fied, a, Villi; &, Lieber- 

 kiihnian follicles ; c, 

 Briinner's gland in the 

 submucous tissue ; d, 

 muscular walls. 



possible, as has been suggested by one observer (Flint) 

 that muscular fibre, disintegrated by the gastric juice, is 

 afterwards completely dissolved by means of the pancreatic. 

 It appears, then, that the pancreatic juice is the principal 

 means of digesting starch and oil, and that it is likewise 

 useful in digesting albuminoids. 



70. The action of the fluid secreted by the Lieberkuhnian 

 follicles (succus inteslinalis), has been examined by gathering 

 it from the intestines of animals experimented on, and by 

 other means. Like the pancreatic juice, it is an alkaline 

 fluid which acts on starch, oil, and albuminoid matters; but 



