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DR. LEE ON THE FUNCTIONS OF 
I have now examined, in upwards of twenty foetuses of different ages, the 
contents of the different portions of this extensive tube ; and from their appear- 
ance, as well as chemical composition, as determined by Dr. Prout, to whom 
numerous specimens were submitted for analysis, it will be perceived that 
they bear a striking analogy to the contents of the alimentary canal of the 
adult, where the processes of assimilation and absorption are performed. 
The stomach of the foetus I usually found, in these cases, distended, with a 
semitransparent, ropy, mucous, and occasionally ascescent fluid, without any 
sensible admixture of albuminous or other apparently nutritious matter. 
In the duodenum, and part of the remaining portion of the small intestines, 
there was uniformly present, adhering closely to the mucous membrane, a 
semi-fluid matter, found upon examination to possess properties decidedly of 
an albuminous character, and to have an orange or pink colour. This matter 
has always been found in greatest abundance around the papillary projection, 
through which the common duct of the liver opens into the duodenum. 
In the lower half of the small intestines the quantity of this albuminous 
matter was greatly diminished, and near the colon it almost entirely disap- 
peared. The colour also of the contents of this lower portion of the small 
intestines was different from that noticed in the contents of the duodenum, 
being of a greenish tint, and assuming more and more the characters of the 
meconium as the distance from the origin of the colon diminished. These 
different substances were generally found slightly ascescent. 
The great intestines were much more distended than the small intestines, 
and contained throughout a dark green, homogeneous, generally neutral or 
slightly alkaline fluid, in which no albuminous matter could be detected, and 
which was consequently excrementitious. 
The absence of albuminous matter in the stomach of the foetus, its invariable 
presence in the upper half of the small intestines, its gradual diminution as we 
proceed downwards, and its disappearance in the colon, are circumstances, 
which, viewed in connection with the great length of the small intestines 
already noticed, seem to prove that the absorption of some nutritious substance 
takes place from the intestinal canal in the latter months of gestation, in like 
manner as it does after birth. 
The observation, that the lacteals contain a similar fluid, is sufficient to 
