222 
encing inert and unorganized particles. It is 
assuredly a striking fact, and one fraught with 
great interest, that the new molecules on their 
first introduction into the living system, should 
possess one of the most conspicuous attributes 
of vitality, viz. motion.* Mr. Ancell, who has 
_ great attention to the animal fluids, has 
uently examined these moveable granules 
with me, and is inclined to consider their mo- 
tions, as indicating the first obvious impress of 
Vitality which the new material has received 
from its association with living matter. Be- 
sides the granules, there exist in the chyle 
numerous spherical globules colourless and 
granular on the surface, averaging 1-5000th, 
but ranging between 1-3000th and 1-7000th of 
an inch in diameter, resembling in every par- 
ticular the lymph globule, with which they are 
probably identical. ‘These globules I conceive 
are not derived from the interior of the intes- 
tine as some have supposed, nor from the 
glands, as I presume is Mr. Gulliver's opinion, 
but I would rather say are formed in the chyle 
and lymph by the aggregation of similar par- 
ticles, probably fibrinous. Globules of oily 
or fatty matter are also found in the gs Pr 
these may be readily distinguished by their 
circular and even outline, by their smooth and 
apparently flat surfaces, and by the great variety 
of their size, some being as small as the chyle 
granule, while others exceed the globule in 
diameter ; in many respects they resemble the 
milk globule in appearance. Blood corpuscules 
will of course be frequently seen mixed with 
the chyle, as it is exceedingly difficult to collect 
it free from them. In the chyle the blood cor- 
puscule loses its circular outline, its ordinary 
flattened form, its concave or cupped surface, 
and assumes a corrugated or wrinkled appear- 
ance, a spiked or serrated edge; the blood 
corpuscules, when thus corrugated, are less in 
diameter than the surrounding chyle globules, 
and have frequently been mistaken for them. 
On examining the blood taken from a living 
animal after a recent flow of chyle into it, this 
appearance of the blood corpuscule will also 
be readily distinguished. The corrugations 
alluded to on the blood corpuscule may be 
mistaken for spots on it; and when the corpus- 
cule is revolving or vibrating, they may even 
appear like particles moving within it. I was 
for a short time misled by this deceptive ap- 
pearance into the belief that the chyle granule, 
when received into the blood, entered the 
envelope of the blood corpuscule to form its 
nucleus. This erroneous notion, however, was 
soon corrected on finding that other fluids pro- 
duced the same appearance in the blood cor- 
uscules. It will be observed then, that I am 
induced to think that the chyle is never per- 
fectly free from lymph; that in fact the lymph 
is termed chyle when it is rendered white by 
the addition of the moveable chyle granules 
from the interior of the intestine, to which are 
* [Wagner has depicted in his Icones Physiolo- 
gice minute granules, which he designates ‘‘ Mole- 
cule minores, cujusmodi in liquore chyli natant, 
procul dubio chyli granala futura.” Tab. xiii. 
fig. 11.—Ep.] 
LYMPHATIC AND LACTEAL SYSTEM. 
added from the same source the oily or fatty 
icles. sag 
If the clot and serum of the chyle be ex: 
mined separately under the microscope, the 
will both be found to contain the chyle granu 
in sufficient quantity to render them whit 
the chyle globule, or any blood corpusei 
that the specimen may have contained, will 
entangled in the clot, while the oily partiel 
will be principally found in the serum. If 
coagulation has been incomplete, or the s 
cimen has been agitated, some chyle glob 
and blood corpuscules will of course be 
with the serum. ” 
The chyle has been analyzed by B 
Emmert, by Vauquelin, by Marcet, 
and Brande, by Leuret and i an 
Tiedemann and Gmelin, but in a science 801 
pidly progressive as chemistry it is desirak 
adduce the most recent information bear 
the subject. I shall therefore select the 
lysis given by Berzelius, (taken from the 
lation of his treatise on Chemistry by Mi 
linger, published at Paris in 1833,) who ado 
some of the opinions of ‘Tiedemann and G 
lin, and with whose analysis of the chyle 
pretty exactly agrees. “7 
In 100 parts of chyle, taken from tl 
racic duct of a horse during the digestio 
meal of oats, he obtained, after breaking 
and pressing the clot, 96°99 parts by 
serum and 3°01 of clot: the former was 
duced by desiccation to 7°39 parts and 
latter to 0°78 ; consequently, after evaporati 
the proportions in 100 parts stood thus— 
Desiccated clot rere ceses ere ee 
- a 
xs 
err 
Water 
© 
The dry clot softened when digested in 
tilled vinegar, but without being dissol 
it to any perceptible extent. A small qua 
of a brownish-yellow oil was obtained fron 
by the action of boiling alcohol. a 
One hundred parts of the desiccated 
contained— 6 
Brown fatty matter 
Yellow fatty matter... re VFe esdecoun 
Osmazome, lactate of soda, and chlo-) ,, 
ride of sodium ..........0yseeugne 
Extractive matter soluble in water, in- 
soluble in alcohol, with carbonate > 2 
and a little phosphate of soda ....) | 
Albumen ee Pee errr eee eereeseseeee ., | 
Carbonate with traces of phosphate es r | 
lime.. 
It has been generally stated and belie 
that a sufficient quantity of chyle for chemic 
analysis could not be obtained from the lacte: 
before they reached the thoracic duct, cor 
quently, that which has hitherto been submit 
to chemical examination has been t fi 
the trunk of the system, where it must of n 
cessity have been mixed with a greater or 
: 
a < 
