122 DR. LEE ON THE FUNCTIONS OF 



I have now examined, in upwards of twenty foetuses of different ages, the 

 contents of the different portions of this extensive tube ; and from their appear- 

 ance, as well as chemical composition, as determined by Dr. Prout, to whom, 

 numerous specimens were submitted for analysis, it will be perceived that 

 they bear a striking analogy to the contents of the alimentary canal of the 

 adult, where the processes of assimilation and absorption are performed. 



The stomach of the foetus I usually found, in these cases, distended, with a 

 semitransparent, ropy, mucous, and occasionally ascescent fluid, without any 

 sensible admixture of albuminous or other apparently nutritious matter. 



In the duodenum, and part of the remaining portion of the small intestines, 

 there was uniformly present, adhering closely to the mucous membrane, a 

 semi-fluid matter, found upon examination to possess properties decidedly of 

 an albuminous character, and to have an orange or pink colour. This matter 

 has always been found in greatest abundance around the papillary projection, 

 through which the common duct of the liver opens into the duodenum. 



In the lower half of the small intestines the quantity of this albuminous 

 matter was greatly diminished, and near the colon it almost entirely disap- 

 peared. The colour also of the contents of this lower portion of the small 

 intestines was different from that noticed in the contents of the duodenum, 

 being of a greenish tint, and assuming more and more the characters of the 

 meconium as the distance from the origin of the colon diminished. These 

 different substances were generally found slightly ascescent. 

 'siThe great intestines were much more distended than the small intestines, 

 and contained throughout a dark green, homogeneous, generally neutral or 

 slightly alkaline fluid, in which no albuminous matter could be detected, and 

 which was consequently excrementitious. . 



The absence of albuminous matter in the stomach of the foetus, its invariable 

 presence in the upper half of the small intestines, its gradual diminution as we 

 proceed downwards, and its disappearance in the colon, are circumstances, 

 which, viewed in connection with the great length of the small intestines 

 already noticed, seem to prove that the absorption of some nutritious substance 

 takes place from the intestinal canal in the latter months of gestation, in like 

 manner as it does after birth. ;as>,'iijt,i,>'j*.v/m9d ii aw ji 



The observation, that the.lflcteals contain a similar fluid, is sufficient to 



