MAY SERVE TO NOURISH. 95 



the dead body retain their connexions, which depend 

 on the gelatinous tissues. 



On the other hand, we see that the gelatine of bones 

 devoured by a dog entirely disappears, while 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 gelatine 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 composed of fibrine, 

 the identity in composition of the two substances ren- 

 ders the change easily conceivable. Indeed, we find 

 the change of a dissolved substance into an insoluble 

 organ of vitality, chemically speaking, natural and easily 

 explained, on account of this very identity of compo- 

 sition. Hence, the opinion is not unworthy of a closer 

 investigation, that gelatine, when taken in the dissolved 

 state, is again converted, 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 



not a compound of proteine; and, thirdly, to the sagacity of Liebig, 

 in first drawing the conclusions now so obvious to all who attend to 

 the subject. 



