Cuar. VI] DIGESTION. 83 
without being much disturbed, was removed and placed 
under the microscope. In the central part the transverse 
striee on the muscular fibres were quite distinct; and it was 
interesting to observe how gradually they disappeared, when 
the same fibre was traced into the surrounding fluid. They 
disappeared by the strie being replaced by transverse lines 
formed of excessively minute dark points, which towards the 
exterior could be seen only under a very high power; and 
ultimately these points were lost. When I made these 
observations, I had not read Schiff’s account* of the digestion 
of meat by gastric juice, and I did not understand the 
meaning of the dark points. But this is explained in the 
following statement, and we further see how closely similar 
is the process of digestion by gastric juice and by the 
secretion of Drosera. 
“On a dit que le suc gastrique faisait perdre 4 la fibre musculaire 
ses stries transversales. Ainsi énoncée, cette proposition pourrait 
donner lieu 4 une équivoque, car ce qui se perd, cc n’est que [aspect 
extérieur de la striature et non les éléments anatomiques qui la com- 
posent. Onsait que les stries qui donnent un aspect si caractéristique 
a la fibre musculaire, sont le résultat de la juxtaposition et du 
parallélisme des corpuscules élémentaires, placés, 4 distances égales, dans . 
Pintérieur des fibrilles contigués. Or, dés que le tissu connectif qui 
relie entre elles les fibrilles élémentaires vient & se gonfler et 4 se 
dissoudre, et que les fibrilles elles-mémes se dissocient, ce parallélisme 
est détruit et avec lui V’aspect, le phénoméne optique des stries. Si, 
aprés la désagrégation des fibres, on examine au microscope les fibrilles 
élémentaires, on distingue encore trés-nettement 4 leur intérieur les 
corpuscules, et on continue a les voir, de plus en plus pales, jusqu’au 
moment ov les fibrilles elles-mémes se liquéfient et disparaissent dans 
le suc gastrique. Ce qui constitue la striature, 4 proprement parler, . 
nest done pas détruit, avant la liquéfaction de la fibre charnue elle- 
méme.” 
In the viscid fluid surrounding the central sphere of 
undigested meat there were globules of fat and little bits 
of fibro-elastic tissue; neither of which were in the least 
digested. There were also little free parallelograms of 
yellowish, highly translucent matter. Schiff, in speaking of 
the digestion of meat by gastric juice, alludes to such 
parallelograms, and says :— 
* ¢Lecons phys. de la Digestion,’ 1867, tom. ii. p. 145. : 
G2 
