The pancreatic fluids secreted from the pancreas, digests the
fatty matters. It breaks the large granules of oil and fat into a
great many minute particles, and converts them into a milky
liquid called chyle, which mixes freely with water and passes
through the tissues of the intestines into the lacteals. It also
changes the starch into sugar, and the sugar into lactic acid, but
has very little action on albuminous substances.
The bile, secreted from the liver, plays an important part in
intestinal digestion, the exact nature of which is unknown.
Bile is a complex liquid, consisting of biliary acid in combina-
tion with soda. It certainly aids in the absorption of fat, and
many suppose its purpose is to lubricate the walls of the intes-
tinal canal; from its soapy consistency it effects a smooth, non-
irritating passage of the contents. If there be any lack or
surplus of the bile, it soon produces an injurious result in the
system. The bile is in the intestines, and not in the stomach
except when the action of the stomach is inverted, in nausea
and vomiting; then the bile is forced up into the stomach in-
stead of down into the intestines.
The intestinal juice ^ secreted in the mucous membrane the
entire length of the intestine, combines the active and digestive
powers of all the other secretions.
The lactic acid is formed so rapidly from the digestion of
sugar that the contents of the intestine quickly becomes acidu-
lous, and this completes the digestion of any portions of nitro-
genous food not fully digested in the stomach. The combined
amount of the salivary, gastric, pancreatic, biliary, and intes-
tinal fluids secreted daily is twenty-one pints, of which the
gastric juice forms more than one half. There are mechanical
aids to intestinal as well as stomach digestion. The writhing,
worm-like motion, or peristaltic movement, of the muscular coats
of the intestines forces the food downward, and exposes all
portions of it to the digestive fluids.
The Boston Cook Book,
475
Notwithstanding all these powerful agents in digestion, a
portion of -useful matter passes through the intestines un-
changed; and if there be a deficiency of either fluid, or a
weakness of the muscular coats, or too great a quantity of irri-
tating substance, like cellulose, woody fibre, bran, etc., the
amount is increased. This is carried, with the innutritions
portion, into the larger intestine, and forms a part of the
excretions.
ABSORPTION.
The nutritive and perfectly digested portions of food are
absorbed partly by the veins of the stomach, entering at once
into the circulation, and partly by the intestines. The lining
membrane of the intestines folds over and over upon itself, like
a ruffle, along the entire edge; this is full of little tubes, or villi,
which absorb the chyle.
Page 282
Presented as published in 1884. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
AI-modernized reading of the original text
The pancreatic fluids secreted from the pancreas, digests the fatty matters. It breaks the large granules of oil and fat into a great many minute particles, and converts them into a milky liquid called chyle, which mixes freely with water and passes through the tissues of the intestines into the lacteals. It also changes the starch into sugar, and the sugar into lactic acid, but has very little action on albuminous substances.
The bile, secreted from the liver, plays an important part in intestinal digestion, the exact nature of which is unknown. Bile is a complex liquid, consisting of biliary acid in combination with soda. It certainly aids in the absorption of fat, and many suppose its purpose is to lubricate the walls of the intestinal canal; from its soapy consistency it effects a smooth, nonirritating passage of the contents. If there be any lack or surplus of the bile, it soon produces an injurious result in the system. The bile is in the intestines, and not in the stomach except when the action of the stomach is inverted, in nausea and vomiting; then the bile is forced up into the stomach instead of down into the intestines.
The intestinal juice secreted in the mucous membrane the entire length of the intestine, combines the active and digestive powers of all the other secretions.
The lactic acid is formed so rapidly from the digestion of sugar that the contents of the intestine quickly becomes acidulous, and this completes the digestion of any portions of nitrogenous food not fully digested in the stomach. The combined amount of the salivary, gastric, pancreatic, biliary, and intestinal fluids secreted daily is twenty-one pints, of which the gastric juice forms more than one half. There are mechanical aids to intestinal as well as stomach digestion. The writhing, worm-like motion, or peristaltic movement, of the muscular coats of the intestines forces the food downward, and exposes all portions of it to the digestive fluids.
The Boston Cook Book,
Notwithstanding all these powerful agents in digestion, a portion of -useful matter passes through the intestines unchanged; and if there be a deficiency of either fluid, or a weakness of the muscular coats, or too great a quantity of irritating substance, like cellulose, woody fibre, bran, etc., the amount is increased. This is carried, with the innutritions portion, into the larger intestine, and forms a part of the excretions.
ABSORPTION.
The nutritive and perfectly digested portions of food are absorbed partly by the veins of the stomach, entering at once into the circulation, and partly by the intestines. The lining membrane of the intestines folds over and over upon itself, like a ruffle, along the entire edge; this is full of little tubes, or villi, which absorb the chyle.