THE FCETAL INTESTINES AND LIVER. 123 



render the preceding physiological view a matter of demonstration. In no 

 instance, however, have I succeeded in detecting these vessels in the mesentery 

 of the human foetus, though I have perceived them distinctly in a calf of seven 

 months. A case has been however recorded by Mons. Adelon, in his work on 

 Physiology, whei-e the lacteals were observed in a child at the period of birth 

 distended with chyle. His words are : " En examinant les vaisseaux du me- 

 sentfere, dans un enfant qui venait de naitre avec I'abdomen ouvert, on a trouv6 

 ces vaisseaux pleins de chyle*." 



My attention was next directed to discover the source of this albuminous 

 matter in the intestines, which I conceived could only be derived from the 

 pancreas, the liver, or the duodenum itself. With respect to the pancreas, 

 that organ remains so small during the whole of the foetal state, that it would 

 appear incapable of forming so large a quantity of matter as exists in the 

 intestinal canal. On the other hand, the duodenum presents still greater diffi- 

 culties to the solution of this question ; for it seems improbable that this portion 

 of the alimentary canal can perform simultaneously the office of secreting and 

 absorbing the same matter ; to say nothing of the anomaly which in this 

 case would take place, of a mucous membrane forming albumen. From 

 having observed in every instance the same orange-coloured fluid, in the 

 small intestines, collected in great abundance near the orifice of the ductus 

 communis choledochus, and taking into consideration the magnitude of the 

 foetal liver, and the large supply of blood which it receives from the umbilical 

 vein, it appeared to me reasonable to infer that this viscus must be the source 

 of the matter in question. Additional weight was given to this conclusion 

 by having detected, in two instances, in the hepatic duct, the presence of a 

 fluid possessing, not only some of the sensible, but also the chemical properties 

 of that which was found in the duodenum. In general, the hepatic and com- 

 mon ducts of the liver have been found empty, or have contained too minute 

 a quantity of fluid to be collected for chemical investigation ; but in the two 

 instances above mentioned it existed in unusual abundance, and was pressed 

 out upon a plate of glass without mixing with the bile of the gall-bladder, a 

 ligature having previously been applied around the cystic duct. This fluid of 

 the hepatic duct was of a light straw-colour, and much less viscid than that 



• Adelon, Physiologic de THomme. Tom. iv. p. 476. 

 r2 



