On Absorption. 171 



Microscopical examination of the blood showed nothing of 

 the pullulation^ nor did the subsequent application of 

 magenta reveal any previous action of the tannin. 



A similar experiment was performed upon a dog. It 

 would h ave been impossible to swear in a court of justice whether 

 the dog became dmnk or not ; having four legs he managed 

 to balance himself tolerably well, but as before the experi- 

 ment he was very savage and snappish, and afterwards was 

 very sociable, familiar, and waggy-tailish, I have little 

 doubt that the alcohol floated to the surface those weak 

 points of his character which his habitual beverage kept 

 usually suppressed. Be this as it may, the blood showed no 

 evidence of the action of tannin. 



These experiments, although failing in the purpose for 

 which they were commenced, show, if this were now neces- 

 sary, the facility with which fluids external to the blood- 

 vessels permeate them and are finally removed from the 

 system ; absorption taking place principally through the 

 blood-vessels, and not evidently tlirough the so-called but 

 badly-named absorbents, for in no instance were the contents 

 of the thoracic duct tinged. No doubt whatever exists of 

 the absence of the dye in the thoracic duct, whilst its 

 presence first in the blood, then in the urine, is undoubted. 

 Again, we are led to admire the equal facility that 

 exists for the removal of matters absorbed into the blood 

 by the kidneys, a power that is truly mai-^ellous, preserving 

 in all these experiments the entire health of the animal, and 

 preventing even their own epithelium being coloured. 



During the absorption of the dyes from the peritoneal 

 cavity, in two or three instances, there was a simultaneous 

 accumulation of colourless serum in the same cavity, a true 

 endos and exosmosis occurring in the same membrane and 

 same vessels at the same time (?) 



The foregoing observations are deduced from upwards of 

 one hundred experiments. 



I now proceed to the results obtained by injecting solutions 

 of ferrocyanide of potassium and perchloride of iron into the 

 peritoneal and pleural cavities, stomach, and beneath the 

 skin. 



Fodera, in 1824, (see Milne Edward's " Legons sur la 

 Physiologic,") by injecting an infusion of galls into the 

 pleural sac or urinary bladder, and at the same time a solution 

 of sulphate of kon into the peritoneal cavity, found a black 

 precipitate in the thoracic duct and othei' parts of the body. 



