1. On the Properties of the Secretion of the Human Pancreas

Extract

The author obtained the pancreatic secretion at a post-mortem examination which he made of the body of a patient of Mr Spence's, who had died with a medullary tumour in the head of the pancreas, which, by compressing the biliary and pancreatic ducts, had produced dilatation of the ducts of the liver and gall-bladder, as well as dilatation of the ducts and lobules of the pancreas. The secretion was contained in the dilated parts of the gland last named, from which it was drawn off by means of a pipette. The fluid thus obtained was of an orange-yellow colour, and well-marked viscid consistency—sp. gr. 1·0105; appearance slightly turbid, owing to the presence of small white flakes, which a microscopic examination proved to consist of groups of small spherical, colourless cells, resembling, and most probably consisting of, the epithelial lining of the vesicles of the gland.