348 ANIMAL PHYSIOLOGY. 
Different interpretations have been put upon this experi- 
ment. Some point to it as clear proof of the influence of the 
Tie. 293.—A. Section of villus of rat killed ete fat absorption | td &P epithelium ; 
str, striated border ; c, lymph-cells ; of me. -cells in epitheli um ; 1 , central lacteal con- 
‘ucous 
taining disintegrating corpuscles. membrane of frog’s intestine during fat 
Anaorntien, (Schafer). ep, epirhelans str, striated border; C, lymph-corpuscles; 1, lacteal. 
nervous system directly ; to others it seems that the failure of 
absorption is owing to the greatly dilated condition of the 
blood-vessels, consequent upon the loss of arterial tone, the 
blood remaining in the veins, and the circulation being, in fact, 
practically arrested. It certainly can not be claimed that the 
first conclusion necessarily follows from the experiment; the 
second may be a partial explanation of the failure of absorp- 
tion; but, when a multitude of other facts are taken into 
account, there seems little reason to doubt that so important a 
_ process as absorption can not fail to be regulated by the nerv- 
ous centers. The danger of founding any important conclu- 
sion on a single experiment is very great, 
Again, if the leg of a frog, exclusive of the nerves, be liga- 
tured, the limb will be found to swell rapidly if placed in water, 
which is not true of a dead limb. This is adduced as evidence 
for the independence of the absorptive process and the circula- 
tion; and, since section of the sciatic nerve is said to arrest 
absorption, such an experiment, taken together with the two 
