EXPERIMENTS ON DIGESTION. 
221 
greater part of the pancreas being left in the abdominal cavity. 
The pancreatic duct, which is very large, does not in the dog 
always anastomose with the ductus choledochus, as has been already 
remarked and figured by Conrad Brunner, but it penetrates into the 
duodenum much lower than it. It is very easily recognised in its 
passage across the intestine previous to its insertion. A slight 
incision was made into it in a longitudinal direction, and a small 
glass tube was inserted, and secured there by means of a ligature. 
Six minutes afterwards it began to be filled with the fluid, and in 
twenty-six minutes the first drop fell into the little bottle beneath. 
It then began to be discharged at the rate of about a drop in six 
or seven seconds. When the animal breathed deeply, or the 
viscera of the abdomen were compressed by the diaphragm, the 
fluid was discharged more copiously : this was evidently produced 
by the pressure on the portion of the pancreas which was left in 
the abdomen. The liquid was turbid, and slightly red at first, on 
account of a little blood that mingled with it ; but, afterwards, it 
became limpid, or with a slight opaline tint, with a white-blue 
reflexion. It was of the consistence of the white of an egg, and had 
a slight but well-marked saline taste. In the space of four hours 
we procured about ten grammes of it (about one-third of an ounce 
— a quantity sufficient for chemical analysis). We withdrew the 
tube from the duct, and applied a ligature round it, in order to pre- 
vent the fluid from running into the abdomen. The duodenum and 
the remaining part of the pancreas were returned into the abdomi- 
nal cavity, and the wound was closed with a suture. On the fol- 
lowing day he drank some water, and ate freely of bread and milk, 
but which was afterwards returned by vomit. His appetite was as 
usual on the third day. Four days afterwards he voided some hard 
and dry excrement, and for some days subsequently the faecal mat- 
ter was in the same state. The wound, which he often licked, went 
on favourably. The ligatures separated, leaving some slight fleshy 
protuberances, and in about ten days the wound was closed. The 
dog recovered his former spirits and condition. He was permitted 
to live eleven weeks after the operation, at the end of which he 
was sacrificed in another experiment. We did not forget to examine 
the state of the pancreatic duct, or rather ducts, for there were two 
of them, — that which we had opened and tied, and a smaller one 
which joined the ductus choledochus. To our great surprise, the 
first canal was permeable, and only a little contracted at the place 
where we had applied the ligature. It was re-established by a de- 
position of coagulable lymph on its external coat, and by the for- 
mation of a new canal through this. (A long account is now given of 
the chemical analysis, the result of which shall be presently stated.) 
II. The pancreatic mice in a sheep . — -The subject of the opera- 
VOL XII. G g 
