40 



THE PANCREAS 



diabetes," by Dr Vaughan Harley and others, are 

 facts as important as any that Bernard made out : 

 in no way contradicting his work, but added to it. 

 The pancreas is no longer taken to be only a sort 

 of salivary gland out of place : over and above the 

 secretion that it pours into the intestines, it has an 

 "internal secretion," a constituent of the blood : it 

 belongs not only to the digestive system, but also, 

 like the thyroid gland and the supra-renal capsules, 

 to the whole chemistry of the blood and the tissues. 

 So far has physiology come, unaided by anatomy, 

 from the fantastic notions of Lindanus and the men 

 of his time : and has come every inch of the way 

 by the help of experiments on animals. And it is 

 worthy of note, that Professor Starling's recent 

 observations, on the chemical influence of the duo- 

 denal mucous membrane on the flow of pancreatic 

 fluid, have advanced the subject still further, and 

 have given a new fact of very great interest to 

 physiology. 



