CHAPTER IV [72] 



RESORPTION OF THE FORMED ELEMENTS 



Digestion in the tissues.— Resorption of cells in the Invertebrata.— Resorption of red 

 corpuscles by the phagocytes of the Vertebrata. — Phagocytes.— Various cate- 

 gories of these cells. — Macrophages and microphages. — Part played by macro- 

 phages in the resorption of the formed elements. — Digestive property of the 

 macrophagic organs. — Solution of the red blood corpuscles by the blood 

 serums. — The two substances which operate in haemolysis. Macrocytase and 

 fixative. — Analogy of the latter with enterokynase. — Escape of the macrocytase 

 during phagolysis. Suppression of phagolysis. Resorption of the spermatozoa. — 

 Presence of fixatives in plasmas. — Origin of fixatives. 



It is usually understood that nutritive substances must necessarily 

 be subjected to the influence of the digestive juices in the gastro- 

 intestinal canal before they can be utilised for the nutrition of 

 the organism. This is a very old idea. It was based on a well- 

 known experiment by Schiff who injected several animals intra- 

 venously with solutions of cane sugar and egg albumen and others 

 with the same substances after they had been artificially digested. In 

 the first case the food substances passed into the urine, in the second 

 they only appeared there when injected in large quantities. 



At the recent International Congress of Medicine held in Paris in 

 1900, the question of extra-buccal nutrition was much discussed \ It 

 has been accepted that fats, when injected into the subcutaneous 

 tissues, are, at least in part, absorbed by the organism, but that 

 carbo-hydrates and albuminoids are never absorbed. This is perhaps 

 true from the point of view of clinical medicine. But, in principle, it 

 must be admitted that food substances of very diverse natures, when 

 introduced into the organism by channels other than the gastro-[73] 

 intestinal canal, still undergo profound changes. 



1 Compt. rend, du XIIP Congres internat. de Med., Paris, 1901. Leube, " Ueber 

 extrabuccale Ernahrung," in " Deutsche Klinik am Eingange d. XX. Jahrhunderts," 

 Wien u. Leipzig, 1901, i, S. 64. 



5—2 



