INTERNAL ORGANS. 23 



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almost constantly feeding, and as digestion is 

 continually going on in his stomach and intes- 

 tines, that a constant flow of bile is necessary, 

 and therefore that a srall-bladder would be 

 useless, perhaps injurious. 



The pancreas is also a glandular body, and 

 secretes a fluid somewhat resemblhig saliva, 

 which is conveyed by the pancreatic duct into 

 the duodenum, at the same place where the 

 hepatic duct enters. When these fluids (the 

 bile and pancreatic juice) are poured into the 

 intestine, they mingle with the mass of digested 

 food which has been expelled from the stomach, 

 and separate from it all those essential parts 

 which are fit to be converted into blood ; this 

 process is term.ed chylification. We have before 

 observed, when describing the mesentery, or 

 that membrane by which the intestines are held 

 together, that an immense number of small de- 

 licate vessels are spread over its surface, named 

 lacteals, from their containing a fluid which 

 in its appearance resembles milk. This fluid 

 consists in fact of the essential parts of the 

 food proceeding to the heart, in order to be 

 converted into blood. All the lacteals open 

 into the intestines, and cover the whole of their 

 internal surface^ where they are always dis- 



