242 OF THE BILE. 



(B) Berzelius * states, that bile contains alkali and salts in 

 the same proportion as the blood, and that no resin exists in it, 

 but " a peculiar matter, of a bitter and afterwards somewhat 

 sweet taste, which possesses characters in common with the 

 fibrin, the colouring matter, and the albumen of the blood." 

 This forms, with an excess of acid, a perfectly resinous precipi- 

 tate. What has been considered albumen in the bile, Ber- 

 zelius regards as the mucus of the gall-bladder. 

 Bile contains of 



Water 9O7.4 



Biliary matter 80.O 



Mucus of the gall bladder dissolved \ 3 Q 



in the bile * 



Alkalies and salts common to all 1 ~ g 

 - secreted fluids . . . . ' . . J 



1000 .Of 



(C) During the precipitation of the chyle and the decom- 

 position of the bile, a gaseous product is usually evolved, the 

 mass becomes neutral, and traces of an albuminous principle 

 commence, strongest at a certain distance from the pylorus, 

 below the point at which the bile enters the intestine, and 

 gradually fainter in each direction. On mixing bile with chyme 

 out of the body, a distinct precipitation takes place, and the 

 mixture becomes neutral 5 but the formation of an albuminous 

 principle is doubtful, probably from the want of the pancreatic 

 fluid. + 



It is wonderful that in jaundice, when no bile is seen in the 

 faeces, and according to Dr. Fordyce even in artificial obstruction 

 of the choledochus by ligature, nutrition continues. Life and 

 health are said to continue after the removal of the organ next 

 to be considered, the spleen. We know little of the compen- 

 sating resources of nature. 



* Animal Chemistry, p. 65. 



f- Med. Chirurg. Trans. Vol. iii. p. 241. 



| Dr. Front in Thomson's Annuls of Philosophy. 1819. 



