SECTION IV. 



Chyle. 



The chyle is the chyme which has been absorbed by the intestinal 

 villi and the thoracic duct through the mesenteric lymphatics. In the 

 receptaculum chyli it is mixed with the lymph coming from the lower 

 extremities. 



It may be obtained pure in the ox from the large trunk which 

 accompanies the anterior mesenteric arteiy (Fig. 111). 



Fig. 171.— Collection of Chyle in the Ox. (Colin.) 



An incision is made in the right flank of an animal in active digestion, and one of the chyle-vessels 

 which accompany the mesentery artery is ligated. When it becomes distended a silver cannula termi- 

 nating in a rubber tube may be readily inserted. 



It is a milky-white, or occasionally reddish, opaque liquid, of alka- 

 line reaction, saltish taste, and a specific gravity which varies between 

 lOO? and 1022. 



In a fasting animal the chyle found in the thoracic duct and mesen- 

 teric lymphatics is pale and transparent, or perhaps somewhat reddish 

 in tint. During the absorption of a meal containing fat, we have seen 

 that it becomes milky in appearance even in the very beginnings of the 

 lymphatic radicals in the villi. 



In the adult herbivora, whose diet is, as a rule, comparatively poor 

 in fatty matters, the chyle is scarcely opalescent, or may be perfectly 



(459) 



