




aiits blood corpuscles which appear loaded with fat after a neal i. 
possibly acting as intermediaries), and that the connective tissue : 
corpuscles swallow the fat brought to them after the fashion of an r 
amoeba, not digesting it but nat keeping it in store until it 
was wanted elsewhere. 
Ill. Carbohydrates. The general action of saliva is that of 
converting starch into some form of sugar. The action of saliva : 
varies in intensity in different animals. Thus in man, the pig, the 4 
guinea-pig, and the rat, the actions are amylolytic (convert starch : 
into sugar); while in the horse, sheep and ox the any Oyo r 4 
powers are extremely feeble. Be 
Saliva converts boiled starch into sugars. Some dextrose is 
formed, but the greater part of the sugar which appears is in the ; . 
form of maltose. Raw unboiled starch undergoes a similar change 
but at a much slower rate. This is due to the fact that in the — 
curiously formed starch grain the true starch, or granulose, is * 
invested with coats of cellulose. This latter material is apparently — 
not acted upon by saliva. Hence the saliva can only get at the | 
granulose by traversing the coats of cellulose, and the conversioa _ 
of the former is thereby much hindered and delayed. The sugars 
and starches upon entering the stomach are not acted upon to- 
any appreciable extent by the gastric juice. The bile also exer- a 
cises very little action upon the carbohydrates. ie 
On starch, pancreatic juice acts with great energy, rapidly _ 
converting it into sugar (chiefly maltose). . All that has been — 
said in this respect concerning saliva might be repeated in the — 
case of pancreatic juics, except that the activity of the latter 1s ¥ 
_far greater than that of the former. Piatt ‘ 
By fermentation in the intestine some of the sugar is removed — 
from the carbohydrate group into the fatty acid group ; it is thus, 
so to speak, put on its way to become fat. ae 
We can not as yet trace out the steps nor can we definitely | 
point to any particular tissues other than the fat-cells themselves © 
as the seats of any such changes. Having reached the intestin . 
the carbohydrates taken as food are in the form of sugars, an do 
we have reason to think that a very large part at all events | f 
the carbohydrate material of a meal is abeat pers as sugar by, the 














