94 GELATINE 



tion ; a part of these -tissues is separated, and must be 

 restored from the blood ; but this alteration and restora- 

 tion is obviously confined within very narrow limits.* 



While, in the body of a starving or sick individual, 

 the fat disappears, and the muscular tissue takes once 

 more the form of blood, we find that the tendons and 

 membranes retain their natural condition ; the limbs of 



* It is probably known to the reader, that a controversy has for 

 some time been carried on on this subject. D'Arcet first proposed 

 the use of gelatine as an article of hospital diet, and introduced it in 

 Paris with the greatest success. 



But experiments made with pure gelatine used exclusively as food, 

 showed that animals, thus fed, soon died with the symptoms of starva- 

 tion ; and it was found that men fed for a day or two on gelatine ex- 

 clusively, acquired an absolute disgust at it. It was hence concluded, 

 that the use of gelatine in any shape was hurtful, and ought not to 

 be permitted. 



Now that we know, as the author has proved, that gelatine, al- 

 though formed from proteine, is no longer a compound of proteine, 

 and cannot yield blood, we can easily see how it is incapable, alone, 

 of supporting life and health. But on the other hand, when we con- 

 sider, how great a part of the body (membranes and bones, for 

 example) is formed of gelatine, when we see the dog digesting per- 

 fectly the gelatine of bones, and man that of soup or jelly j we must 

 admit the great probability of the author's most ingenious supposition, 

 namely, that gelatine is dissolved in the stomach, and enters the 

 blood, where it serves as a means of restoring the waste of the gela- 

 tinous tissues ; while the weak digestive powers of a convalescent or 

 patient are not taxed to convert albumen, fibrine, or caseine into gela- 

 tine ; and thus its use, as apart only of the diet of hospitals, becomes 

 at once obvious. 



We can no longer reject the facts proved by D'Arcet, (although 

 peremptorily denied by some,) namely, that the period of the stay of 

 patients in the hospital, is, on the average, much shortened where 

 gelatine has been employed, while, when mixed with other food, the 

 patients relish it highly. At least, we cannot reject them without 

 examination. On the other hand, we can now clearly perceive the 

 error of those, who, because the composition of gelatine approaches 

 to that of fibrine, &c., maintained it to be equally nutritious. For 

 our knowledge on this subject we are indebted, first, to the discovery 

 of proteine by Mulder ; secondly, to the discovery, that gelatine is 



