SYNTHESIS OF FATS ACCOMPANYING INTESTINAL ABSORPTION 39 
acid from dry sodium oleate, this is not, however, the source of the oleic acid here 
obtained, as is seen from the controls in Experiment 1, Series 3 ( vide infra ). The 
source of this oleic acid is the neutral fat of the mucosa itself. 
Experiment 2. The abdominal lymphatics of the same animal used in 
Experiment 1 were finely minced, and treated like the intestinal mucosa in that 
experiment. 
Portion No, 1 weighed 1*83 gramme, and was treated with 18 c.c. of 
normal saline, 0.36 gramme of sodium oleate, and 0*15 gramme of glycerine. 
Portion No. 2 weighed 1*63 gramme, and was treated with 16 c.c. of normal 
saline only. 
The two portions were digested in the incubator at 36 J C. for a period of 115 
hours ; both were then evaporated to dryness ; 0*32 gramme of sodium oleate was 
added to No. 2, and each was then extracted four times with ether, and the weights 
of total ethereal extracts and amounts of free fattv acid present were determined. 
The results, calculated for convenience of comparison to two grammes of tissue, 
are given in the following table :— 
Weight of 
ethereal extract 
Weight of free 
oleic acid 
Difference 
Percentage of 
free oleic acid 
No. 1 
No. 2 (control) 
0- + 02 + 
0-3782 
0-2751 
0-1825 
0-1273 
0-1957 
68-3' 
48-2 
Here the difference between total extract and free acid, as shown in the 
third column, is somewhat greater in the case of the control. 
Series 3 
In this series of experiments, extracts containing- cells were used in some of 
the experiments, and cell-free extracts in others. In all cases, in addition to 
determining the free fatty acid, the amount of neutral fat was also determined after- 
wards by Kottstorfer's saponification method, and was always found very low. 
The figures given in the various experiments are intended to show how low the 
amount is, but do not quite accurately represent it, for the amount if any, present is 
quite too small for accurate determination. These figures are based on amounts of 
standard alkali of 0-05 to 0*25 c.c, and it is obvious that calculations based on such 
small quantities exceed the true values, since a distinct reaction with the indicator 
1. The much lower percentage of oleic acid in this and the preceding experiment is due to the dry method or extraction, 
in which more soap is dissolved than when shaking up of the solvent with the aqueous extract is employed as a method of 
separation. The actual amount of oleic acid formed is, however, as great in these two experiments as in the others. 
