Page:Proceedings of the Royal Society of London Vol 60.djvu/474

442 Prof. Ramsay and Mr. Travers. The Gaseous amount of alkali required in the intestine for the absorption of all the fats of a fatty meal, as soaps, is out of all proportion to the amount actually present, being about twice the total alkalinity of the body.* The first objection has already been discussed; it has been shown that the acid reaction is due to weak organic acids, and that an alkaline reaction can be obtained by the use of a proper indicator, due to a compound of these weak acids with bases; in other words, to soaps.

The second objection may be met by the supposition that the same quantity of alkali acts cyclically as a carrier in conveying quantity after quantity of fatty radicle, as soap, from the intestine. The soaps are, it is known, broken up in the intestinal cells, and formed into fats by the action of the cell; in such a reaction alkali is set free, and there is no obvious reason why it should not be returned to the intestine and serve to carry a fresh portion of fatty radicle dissolved as soap into the epithelial cells. Such an action takes place in the acid secreting cell of the gastric gland, where sodium chloride is taken up from the blood, split into acid and alkali, and the alkali returned to the blood while the acid passes into the gland lumen; it is not, therefore, unreasonable to suppose that a similar action can take place in the intestinal absorbing cell.

We conclude that in certain animals such as the dog, fats are absorbed partially as dissolved fatty acids, and partially as dissolved while in other animals, such as the white rat, fats are chiefly, if not entirely, absorbed as dissolved soaps.

It is still uncertain whether helium is a single elementary gas or a mixture of two or more gases. If a mixture, it is probable that they should occur independently, and that the proportion of the constituent gases should vary in samples from different sources. During the past year the gases obtained from a large number of minerals and natural waters have been examined with a view to investigate this point, and, also, to determine whether any new gaseous element could be discovered. In every instance the results have been negative; no

reaction to litmus. Although fats are not absorbed in the form of an emulsion, it is evident that the formation of an emulsion in the intestine must enormously increase the surface exposed to the action of the intestinal fluids, and proportionately increase the rate at which the fats are decomposed and dissolved.


 * Munk, ( Yircliow’s Archiv,’ vol. 95, 1884, p. 408.