FATS. 



93 



Fig. 15. 



HUA UTERUS, three 



deposited soon after delivery, and where it continues to be present 

 during the whole period of the resorption or involution of this organ. 



In all these instances, the oleaginous matters remain distinct in 

 form and situation from 'the 

 other ingredients of the ani- 

 mal frame, and are only me- 

 chanically entangled among 

 its fibres and cells, or im- 

 bedded separately in their 

 interior. 



A large part of the fat 

 which is found in the body 

 may be accounted for by that 

 which is taken in with the 

 food, since oily matter occurs 

 in both animal and vegetable 

 substances. Fat is, however, 

 formed in the body, independ- 



ently Of What is" introduced M <""7'' A 



J weeks after parturition. 



with the food. This im- 



portant fact has been definitely ascertained by the experiments of 

 MM. Dumas and Milne-Edwards on bees, 1 M. Persoz on geese, 7 and 

 finally by those of M. Boussingault on geese, ducks, and pigs. 3 The 

 observers first ascertained the quantity of fat existing in the whole 

 body at the commencement of the experiment. The animals were 

 then subjected to a definite nutritious regimen, in which the 

 quantity of fatty matter was duly ascertained by analysis. The 

 experiments lasted for a period varying, in different instances, from 

 thirty -one days to eight months; after which the animals were 

 killed and all their tissues examined. The result of these investi- 

 gations showed that considerably more fat had been accumulated 

 by the animal during the course of the experiment than could be 

 accounted for by that which existed in the food ; and placed it 

 beyond a doubt that oleaginous substances may be, and actually 

 are, formed in the interior of the animal body by the decomposition 

 or metamorphosis of other proximate principles. 



It is not known from what proximate principles the fat is pro- 

 duced, when it originates in this way in the interior of the body. 

 Particular kinds of food certainly favor its production and accu- 



1 Annales de China, et de Phys., 3d series, vol. xiv. p. 400. 

 3 Clnrnie Agricole, Paris, It- 54. 



2 Ibid., p. 408. 



