PANCREATIC  EMULSIONS. 
145 
all  agree  that  the  pancreatic  juice  helps  to  render  fats  easy  of 
absorption. 
The  following  extracts  from  one  of  Dr.  Dobell's  reports  will 
show  the  value  of  any  means  for  promoting  the  assimilation  of 
fat  in  consumptive  patients,  and  also  explain  the  frequent  failure 
of  cod-liver  oil  to  sustain  the  improved  condition  which  so  often 
occurs  when  it  is  first  administered  : — "According  to  the  careful 
estimate  of  Dr.  Lyon  Playfair,  the  quantity  of  fat  required  by 
an  adult  in  twenty-four  hours,  to  keep  up  healthy  nutrition,  is 
from  1  oz.  to  2*5  oz.  ;  and  according  to  the  estimates  made 
from  numerous  and  carefully-selected  data  by  Mr.  Farrants  and 
myself,  the  quantity  is  from  2  oz.  to  3  5  oz.  We  may  fairly 
assume,  then,  that  not  less  than  two  ounces  of  fat  per  day,  on  an 
average,  is  required  to  keep  up  healthy  nutrition  in  an  adult. 
We  have  next  to  bear  in  mind  that,  before  a  case  of  con- 
sumption ordinarily  attracts  attention,  and  begins  to  be  treated 
as  such,  many  pounds  weight,  principally  consisting  of  fat,  have 
been  gradually  removed  from  the  body.  In  this  condition — 1, 
a  deficiency  of  fat  throughout  the  organism  ;  2,  a  ,loss  of  the 
power  to  assimilate  ordinary  fats ;  3,  a  constant  demand  for  two 
ounces  per  day,  to  maintain  the  healthy  nutrition, — Ave  adminster 
cod-liver  oil,  in  the  belief  that  this  form  of  fat  will  assimilate  when 
other  forms  will  not.  Supposing  that  it  agrees,  and  that  some 
or  all  of  it  is  utilized,  a  rapid  improvement  takes  place  in  the 
patient,  from  the  supply  of  some  of  that  for  want  of  which  life 
was  steadily  fading — very  much  as  a  cut  flower  that  has  drooped 
for  want  of  its  supply  of  sap  rallies  and  recovers  freshness  for  a 
time  when  put  into  water.  But  there  are  very  few  persons  who 
can  take  more  than  half  an  ounce  to  one  ounce  of  oil  per  day — few 
who  can  even  take  this  steadily  from  week  to  week  without  inter- 
missions. But  supposing  an  ounce  or  an  ounce  and  a  half  per  day 
to  be  taken  regularly,  how  is  this  to  supply,  not  only  the  two  ounces 
per  day  required  for  healthy  nutrition,  but  all  the  extra  ounces 
of  arrears  that  were  lost  before  the  treatment  was  begun  ?  But 
assuming  the  possibility  of  two  ounces  per  day  of  oil  for  nutri- 
tion, and  another  two  ounces  for  arrears,  being  taken  and  utilized, 
even  then  the  whole  thing  may  be  unstable  and  may  break  down, 
from  the  fact  that  we  are  supplying  oil  and  not  solid  fat — a 
10 
