ABSORPTION OF FOOD 167 



of the water and dissolved salts are here absorbed, but most of the 

 stomach contents pass through the pylorus as chyme and are re- 

 ceived by the duodenum to be acted upon by intestinal fluids and 

 prepared for absorption. The villi (Fig. 113) are the absorbents 

 which perform this function in the intestine. The epithelial cells 

 with which they are covered take up and^transmit the new sub- 



FIG. 113. SECTION OP INJECTED SMALL INTESTINE OF CAT. a. b. Mucosa. 



Villi. *. Their absorbent vessels, h. Simple follicles, c. Muscularis mucosae. 



Submucosa. g, 6. Circular and longitudinal layers of muscle. /. Fibrous coat. 



All the dark lines represent blood-vessels filled with the injection mass. (Piersol.) 



stances into lymph spaces within the villus, from which they go 

 either into the blood-vessels or lymph capillaries which the villus 

 contains. 



Water and mineral salts (dissolved in the water). These must pass into 

 the blood capillaries, thence into veins, and through them to the portal vein 

 (page 167). By this they are taken to the liver, 



Sugars pass by the same route, namely, blood capillaries and veins to 

 the liver from the intestine". 



