CHYME, in animal economy : in the process of digestion, the food is subject ed to a temperathre usually above 90° of Fahrenheit ; it is mixed with the gastric juice, a liquor secreted by the glands of the stomach, and is made to undergo a moderate and alternate pressure, by the contraction of the stomach , itself. It is thus converted into a soft uniform mass of a greyish colour, in which the previous texture or nature of the aliment can be no longer distinguished.
The chyme, as this pulpy mass into which the food in the stomach is resolv ed is termed,passes by the pylorus into the intestinal canal, where it is mixed with the pancreatic juice and the bile, and is still ex[.osed to the same tempera ture and alternating pressure. The thin ner parts of it are absorbed by the slen der tubes termed the lacteals. The li g uor thus absorbed is of a white colour : it passes through the glands of the me sentery, and is at length conveyed by the thoracic duct into the blood. This part of the process is termed chylification, and the white liquor thus formed, chyle. It is an opaque milky fluid, mild to the taste. By standing for some time, one
part of it coagulates ; another portion is coagulated by heat.
The chyle, after mixing with the lymph conveyed by the absorbent ves sels, is received into the blood which has returned from the extreme vessels, and before it passes to the heart. All traces of it are very soon lost in the blood, as it mixes perfectly with that fluid. It is probable, however, that its nature is not immediately completely altered. The blood passing from the heart is convey ed to the lungs, where it circulates over a very extensive surface presented to the atmospheric air, with the interven tion of a very thin membrane, which does not prevent their mutual action. During this circulation, the blood loses a considerable quantity of carbon, part of which, it is probable, is derived from the imperfectly assimilated chyle, as this, originating in part from vegetable mat ter, must contain carbon in larger pro portion than even the blood itself. Sec ASSIMILATION.