Morning journal and courier., 1880-03-03

into liver substance which, is stored up into cells for subsequent further change prelim- mary to being appropriatedt to the purposes of life.
 Additional experiments tend to show that the liver substance by further change becomes converted into fatty matter, and the produc- tion of the celebrated Fire Gras. or fatty liver is forcible proof of the ability of the system to form fat from carbo hydrates. The process of fattening geese, in order to obtain this so called luxury of fatty liver, is carried on extensively in AL sace, and Strasbourg is the center of the trade.
 The modus operandi for obtaining the liver is described as follows: "The geese, in lean state to start with, are placed snugly in wood en GOODS just large enough to permit them to turn around. There is an opening in front for the head to project, and below stands 8 wooden trough kept always full of water in which fragments of charcoal are immersed and a little salt added. Morning and evening maize or Indian corn, which are rich in carbo hydrates, previously soaked in water, is cram med down the birds throat to repletion, while during the day it drinks and guzzles in the water before it"
 In about month the breathing becomes difficult and then it is known to be necessary to kill the fowl, otherwise death would occur spontaneously The liver is now found to weigh from one to two pounds. The goose itself is called fit for the table, and in being roasted it is said from to pounds of fat escape from it. While the facts just mention ed show that fat can be and is formed from the carbo hy- drates, it must be remembered that such pro- duction cannot take place when ingessed alone. The process requires the cooperation of al Luminous in conjunction with saline matter, and according to Pavy it is probably through the medium of the change, excited by the metamorphosis of the albuminous, matter, that the result is brought about.
 Fats taken as food are not attacked other than being finely divided until reaching the stomach, and here the fatty matters them- selves are not at all changed, but the albumin ous matter which may invest them, as occurs in many foods, is dissolved away, leaving the fat free. This is true of the fat globules of milk; the albuminous coating of the individ- uaI globules being dissolved, leaving the fat itself free and unacted upon. The fat being alternately pushed out of the stomach as in = digested matter comes in contact with the pancreatic juice, which rapidly reduces it to Q state of minute division, or emulsionizes it, as
 it is called being then very finely divided, it is absorbed by little projecting bodies which are situated in the small intestines, and reach es by this means another system of tubes. The absorbed fat is then poured from this sys- tenn of tubes into the alkaline blood, where it is converted into soap, and held in the solu- tion, and in this state it is distributed by the blood throughout the body; and when sepa- rated from the blood, 8 tissue is formed which is of great service; deposited between the muscles and other places, it gives to the body q regular and rounded form; being bad con ductor of heat 8 layer of this tissue beneath the skin serves to keep within much of the heat which is required to support our bodily temperature.
 This function is seen very conGpicuously in certain aquatic warm blooded animals, par Gcularly the seal, in which 8 coat of hair
 would prove of no service as a covering in his
 winter bath and in such animals We find the cutaneous layer of fat much thicker than in
 other animals; which we may consider wise provision of nature.
 When accumulated within the body and in state fitted for reabsorption into the blood, it forms store of force, producing materials which can be drawn upon as occasion requires As examples of such occurrences we have our hibernating animals who enter upon their
 winter sleep with bodies plump and rounded,
 the fat previously accumulated being design ed to form an internal store for consumption | when the supply from without is suspended These animals emerge from their three months sleep with bodies thin and emaciated, the fat having been drawn upon to support life during the period of fipactivity.
 According to Lebigs views fat is held to be heat producing agent. high temperature is required for high manifestation of vitality, and amongst the higher members of the ani- nal k1DgOOm 1n Wn1CQ the processes or life
 are carried on with much greater activity than on the lower, provision is made for the gsner- ation of heat on the body.
 Although our bodies may be exposed to g great external cold, so long as a healthy con- | dition prevails certain uniform temperature is maintained, and for this end the oxidation of combustible material is constantly going in. Hence there is demand for food capa- | ble of undergoing the process of oxidation with formation of heat. Liebig's view was that the non -nitro2enous principles, viz, car bo hydrates and fats, were especially devoted | to this purpose.
 The capacity of material for heat produc-
 ton depends upon the amount of unoxidized
 carbon and hydrogen it contains, and of all the alinentary substances fat holds the highest | place in this respect. The relative value of | fat, sugar, starch and such like bodies, as re- | gsrds capacity for oxidation. has been ascer-
 tained by calculations based on the chemical
 composition of these bodies. According to
 data obtained given quantity of fat will
 have the power of appropriating about 24 times as much Oxygen as the same quantity of starch, or in other words will de- velop about 29 times as much heat in the pro- cess of oxidation, and consequently has about | 24 times as much value as heat producing agent. Dr. Playfair was here quoted as to the enormous consumption of fatty foods by the dwellers in the Arctic regions, while for tropi- | cal dwellers farinaceous foods were the great staple. That our bodies instinctively feel the | absence of fatty matter in some of our com | mon foods and attempt to supply it, is well | illustrated by one or two common household practices.
 The finely bolted wheat of the present day is composed almost entirely of starchy matters containing less fat than the original berry, and | in the use of such material we butter our
 bread to supply the deficiency. So the house. wife doctors the pie crust with lard abundant Iu nhtQjnjpC q a rnSuIk q GubGtanaa mi nently fitted to bring on the dyspepsia; for when baked in this manner not only is the
 fat rendered more indigestible, but very inti- mately mixed with the other matters it affords a mechanical hindrance to digestion. All nitrogenous foods, whether albuminous or gslstinous, must undergo digestion before they can enter the system. In their original state they are in form to resist absorption, and it is only when iquifed and transformed by the agency of the gastric juice that they
 are capable of affording nutriment to the body.
 Ia the stomach the albuminous principles, of which meat is our most familiar example are exposed to the action of the gastric juice,
 which has the effect of dissolving and trans forming them into principle which possesses the important property of being highly diff fusible and thereby readily transmissible from the digestive canal into the blood. With all
 the nitrogenous principles the result is the same, whether derived from the animal king
 dom, as in the case of beef or the case of
 milk, or from the vegetable kingdom, as in the case of vegetable casein; they each, under the influence of the gastric juice, become con- verted into the highly soluble and diffusible
 product which at first by Mialke was called al
 bumose, but since the time of Lehman has
 been called peptone. No matter from what source the peptones are formed; they always possess the same characteristices and the same
 general chemical properties. But the most important physiological property which pep tones possess is their high power of diffusi-
 bility; they are designed for removal from the digestive canal, and by possessing this proper ty of diffusion Q favorable disposition exists
 for the accomplishment of what is wanted.
 This change, whereby albuminous foods are
 converted into diffusible peptones capable of
 easy absorption into the blood, is wrought in
 the stomach by means of 8 fluid whose two active ingredients are pepsine, peculiar or ganic ferment formed in the glands of the stomach, commonly called rennet and free hydrochloric acid. it being possible that 8 compound acid is formed to which the solvent action is due.
 In this flask here is quantity of gastric juice mixed with water obtained from dog