of Fat in the Alimentary Canal. 



253 



by the mere passage of the neutral fat from the stomach is proved 

 by the fact that the total quantity of such soaps given was only 0*003, 

 while the stomach at the end of seven hours contained 0*044 gram. 



It is thus shown beyond question that the stomach is not only 

 capable of breaking up neutral fat into free fat acids and. glycerine, 

 but that some of these free fat acids are able to find in the gastric 

 secretion an alkaline substance with which they can form soaps even 

 in the acid stomach contents. 



Turning next to the contents of the small intestine, we find that 

 the total fat is very small in quantity, there only being 845 gram, 

 of which 0*214 gram remain as neutral fat, so that only 25*33 per 

 oent. of the total fat remains in the small intestine as neutral fat. 

 Fat acids, on the other hand, are very greatly increased, 71*01 per 

 cent, of the total fat being present as fat acids. The absolute quantity 

 of fat acids present in the small intestine is only 0*600 gram ; that 

 is to say, really less than was present in the stomach. The percent- 

 age proportion of the soaps is also increased over that of the stomach, 

 being 3*66 per cent., although the total quantity present is somewhat 

 less than what was present in the stomach, being only 0'031 gram. 



In the large intestine we find that the total fat is only slightly less 

 than that present in the small intestine, being 0*791 gram. This is 

 composed of 0*296 gram of neutral fat, that is to say, somewmat 

 more than was present in the small intestine, and making the per- 

 centage of neutral fat present in the large intestine as much as 

 37*42. The free fat acids are only 0*445 gram, and the percentage 

 is also decreased to only 56*26 per cent. ; that is to say, the per- 

 centage of fat acids present in the large intestine is greater thai 

 that present in the stomach, but not so large as that present in the 

 small intestine. 



The soaps, on the other hand, are increased, being 0*050 gram, 

 and constitute a percentage of 6'32 ; so that the amount of soap 

 present in the large intestine is almost double that present in the 

 small intestine and five times that in the stomach. 



In this the second normal animal (Table II) as much as 43*13 per 

 cent, of the total fat given had left the stomach during the seven 

 hours' digestion, so that the stomach only contained 12*970 grams of 

 the 22*806 grams of fat given in the milk. 



On examining the composition of the total fat present in the 

 stomach we find that it has undergone a marked change, since, of 

 the milk fat given, no less than 96*69 percent, was present as neutral 

 fat, while the stomach contained 81*12 per cent., the total neutral 

 fat having diminished from the 22*05 grams given in the milk to only 

 10*52 grams. Hence 15*57 per cent, of the neutral fat given had 

 been changed into some other form during its seven hours' sojourn in 

 the stomach. 



