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Show 98 DROSERA ROTUNDIFOLIA. 0IIAP. VI. h eriment was sue cessful . For in a. ve.s se3l hc on-t e exp b th vere reduced in size In rs.; taining two cubes, 0 . 'streaks of undissolved albu-d fter 24 hrs. mere . . t an a I second vessel, containing wo men were left. b' n af lbumen both wore likewise · t . go·ed Its o a ' 1 minu e ~a ·~ ·n 3 hrs and after 24 hrs. con1ploto y reduced In size l h ., lded a little weak hydro-d. ·eel I t en ac hIsla p·1pce aarc i.d . to b ot h ve ssels ' and placed fresh c1u bes e f orl bu, men I.n t h ein '. b u t these were not acht ec l .o nh. o ~ . . fact is intelligible according to t o ng This l~tter f S hiff * who has demonstrated, as he authonty o c .t'. to the view hold by some b 1. s in oppos1 1011 . . eh Ie ivoel o' gists, that a cer t ai. n smal. l am. ount o~ f pepsin.f ~ ys . d durin the act of digestion. So that I IS destroye g . b bl extremely solution contained, as IS pro a e, an msmya ll ainoun t of the ferment ' this would hf av1eb been cl b the dissolution of the cubes o a ume.n consui~e y being left w h n the h ydrochlonc fir~t given ;ddn~dne The destruction of th ferment ac1d was a e · . · ft durin the process of digestion, or Its absorr tion a .er the afbuffien had been converted into a p ptone: will also account for e>nly one out of the thr L.tttor sets f experiments having been successful. o Digestion of Roast Meat.-Cubes of about _!.!lo of an inch (1·27 mm.) of moderately ro~stocl Inoat were placed on five leaves which became In 12 hrs. ·losely inflected. After 48 hrs. I gently op ned one loaf, and the Ineat now consisted of a minute c ~tral sphere, partially digested and surrounded by a thi_ck onvel~pe of transparent viscid fluid. The whole, WIthout being much disturbed, was removed and placed under t~e microscope. In the central part the transverse. strue on the mu~cular fibres were qui· te dI'S t1' nc t ; an d 1t was * 'Le~ons phys. de la Digestion,' 1807, tom. ii. i.JP· 114-126. CHAP. VI. DIGESTION. 99 interesting to observe how gradually they disappeared, when the same :fibre was traced into the surrounding fluid. They disappeared by the strire being replaced by transverse lines formed of excessively minute dark points, which towards the exterior could be seen only under a very high power; and ultimately these points were lost. When I made these observations, I had not read Schiff's account* of the digestion of meat by gastric juice, and I did not understand the meaning of the dark points. But this is explained in the following statement, and we further see how closely similar is the process of digestion by gastric juice and by the secretion of Drosera. "On a dit que le sue gastrique faisait perdre a la fibre musculaire ses stries transversales. Ainsi enoncee, cette proposition pourrait donner lieu a une equivoque, car ce qui se perd, ce n'est que l'aspect exterieur de la striature et non les clements anatomiques qui la composent. On sait que les stries qui donnent un aspect si caract6ristique ala fibre musculaire, sont le rcsultat de la juxtaposition et du parallelisme des corpuscules clementaires, places, a distances 6gales, dans l'interieur des fibrilles cont.igues. Or, des que le tissu connectif qui relie entre elles les fibrilles elementaires vient a se gonfler et a se dissoudre, et que Ies fibrilles elles-memes se dissocient, ce parallcJisme est detruit et avec lui l'aspect, le pbenomene optique des stries. Si, apres Ja desagregation des fibres, on examine au microscope les fibrilJes elementaires, on distingue encore tres-nettement a leur interieur les corpuscules, et on continue ales voir, de plus en plus pales, jusqu'au moment ou les fibrilles elles-memes se liquefient et disparaissent dans le sue gastrique. Ce qui constitue la striature, a proprement parler, n'est done pas detruit, avant Ja liquefaction de la fibre charnue elle-meme." In the viscid fluid surrounding the central sphere of undigested meat there were globules of fat and little bits of :fibro-elastic tissue; neither of which were 1n * 'Lec;ons phys. de la Digestion,' tom. ii. p. 145. n ~ |