in the Intestines of living Animals, 157 



and the skin was of a dark yellowish brown. I saw the child 

 while it was alive, and was struck with its want of growth, 

 and its having no fat under the skin, which made it appear 

 longer than new-born children generally are. Upon examin- 

 ing the body after death, the only mal-formation met with, 

 was there being no gall-bladder, nor any duct leading from 

 the liver into the duodenum. 



From what happened in this case, a supply of fat appears 

 necessary for growth, for the child was by no means wasted 

 in its muscles, which it must have been had the constitution 

 not been supplied with nourishmept. 



Animal fat has, I believe, hitherto been considered as a 

 secretion, although there is no direct evidence in favour 

 of such an opinion. It has nothing in common with the 

 secretions ; it is met with in all the interstices of the 

 body; is very often quickly deposited, and in as short a 

 time taken back into the constitution. In these respects it 

 corresponds with the watery fluids, with which the body is 

 supplied. 



'in a former communication respecting the stomachs of ani- 

 mals, I explained that water was taken up from the stomach by 

 channels yet unknown, and carried into the circulation; from 

 whence it is poured into all the cavities of the body, or thrown 

 out altogether by the kidneys and glands of the skin. 



On the present occasion, I hope that I have collected a suf- 

 ficient body of evidence to prove, that fat is formed in the 

 intestines, and from thence received into the circulation, and 

 deposited^ in almost every part of the body. When there is 

 a great demand for it, as in youth, for carrying on the growth 

 of the body, it is laid immediately under the skin, or in the 



Y 2 



