The digestion and assimilation of fat in the human body : an epitome of laboratory notes on physiological and chemical experiments bearing on this subject / by H. Critchett Bartlett.

  • Bartlett, H. Critchett (Henry Critchett)
Date:
1877
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The digestion and assimilation of fat in the human body : an epitome of laboratory notes on physiological and chemical experiments bearing on this subject / by H. Critchett Bartlett. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    Nothing appears to restore the healthy functions of the liver and pancreas in these cases, except the frequent ingestion of oil or liquid fat, so treated artificially that it is already partially transformed by fermentation and the reaction of bile. Seized on with avidity by the. absorb¬ ents, it is insensibly assimilated by the digestive organs, until they gradually become strengthened, not only to provide their own nourishment, but to transform a suffi¬ cient quantity of fat to supply the inevitable waste throughout the bodv. O ty The fat or oil most suitable for general nourishment is evidently that which most nearly approaches the com¬ position of the fat to be renewed, but a fallacy underlies the proposal that the small quantity necessary to give a periodic impetus to the digestion of the common fats of food need be, or indeed ought to be, of this exact com¬ position. It is admitted by those who contend for the adminis¬ tration of the more solid fats as a pancreatic emulsion that, in the first instance, oil, such as cod-liver oil, “ can be hurried most rapidly into the pulmonary (?) circula¬ tion ; it is the fluid oleinous kind of fat that can pass by the portal instead of by the lacteal route.” It is, as Dr. Dobell says in another place, “ like water to the uprooted flower.” But, then, this candid writer proceeds to advise the use of solid pancreatized fat, because “ if you keep it (the flower) in water after it has revived, instead of planting it in good soil, it will droop again and die for want of materials on which to live.” There would be great weight in this, if the fat proposed to be made into the emulsion is exactly of the composition of human fat, and no other fat should be taken in the ordinary diet. Dr. Dobell, however, advocates the use of a far more solid