98 GELATINE MAY SERVE TO 



the limbs of the dead body retain their connections, 

 which depend on the gelatinous tissues. 



On the other hand, we see that the gelatine of 

 bones devoured by a dog entirely disappears, \vhile 

 only the bone earth is found in his excrements. 

 The same is true of man, when fed on food rich 

 in gelatine, as, for example, strong soup. The gela- 

 tine is not to be found either in the urine or in the 

 faeces, and consequently must have undergone a 

 change, and must have served some purpose in the 

 animal economy. It is clear, that the gelatine must 

 be expelled from the body in a form different from 

 that in which it was introduced as food. 



When we consider the transformation of the 

 albumen of the blood into a part of an organ com- 

 posed of fibrine, the identity in composition of the 

 two substances renders the change easily conceivable. 

 Indeed we find the change of a dissolved substance 

 into an insoluble organ of vitality, chemically speak- 

 ing, natural and easily explained, on account of this 

 very identity of composition. Hence the opinion is 

 not unworthy of a closer investigation, that gela- 

 tine, when taken in the dissolved state, is again con- 

 verted, in the body, into cellular tissue, membrane 

 and cartilage ; that it may serve for the reproduction 

 of such parts of these tissues as have been wasted, 

 and for their growth. 



And when the powers of nutrition in the whole 

 body are affected by a change of the health, then, 

 even should the power of forming blood remain the 



