628 OF SECRETION. 



without ramifying through the liver, and in which secretion of Bile took 

 place, evidently from the blood of the Hepatic Artery, which had become 

 venous by circulating through the substance of the Liver ; and this blood 

 appears* to have passed into the ramifications of the Umbilical Vein, which 

 formed a plexus in the lobules, exactly resembling the ordinary portal plexus. 

 It must be remembered, however, that in all 'these instances, the arterial 

 Blood will become abnormally charged with the elements of Bile ; since the 

 blood of the chylopoietic viscera, from which it ought to have been separated, 

 returns to the heart without undergoing any such purification : and the secre- 

 tion of Bile from the blood supplied by the Hepatic Artery under such circum- 

 stances cannot, therefore, be considered as proving that the arterial blood is 

 ordinarily concerned in the secretion to the same degree. 



832. That the proximate elements of the Bile accumulate in the Blood, 

 when from any cause the secretion is suspended, is a fact now well ascer- 

 tained; and this satisfactorily accounts for the disturbance of the other func- 

 tions, especially those of the Nervous system, which then ensues. When 

 the suppression is complete, the patient suddenly becomes jaundiced, the 

 powers of that system are speedily lowered (almost as by a narcotic poison), 

 and death rapidly supervenes.t When the secretion is diminished, but not 

 suspended, the same symptoms present themselves in a less aggravated form. 

 It is probable that much of the disorder in the functions of the Brain, which 

 so constantly accompanies deranged action of the Digestive system, is due to 

 the less severe operation of the same cause, the partial retention within the 

 Blood, of certain constituents of the Bile, which should have been eliminated 

 from the circulating fluid. In such a condition, we derive great benefit from 

 the use of mercurial medicines ; which, by stimulating the Liver to increased 

 action, cause the removal of the morbific agent from the blood. Deficient 

 secretion of the Liver may be recognized as the cause of this and of other 

 diseases, by the paleness of the alvine evacuations, the diffused yellowness of 

 the surface of the body, the yellowish-brown fur upon the tongue, and the 

 congestion of the portal system ; this last results from the same cause, as that 

 which stagnates the blood in the Lungs when there is deficient Respiration 

 ( 738), and frequently occasions Ascites, and other disorders of the contents 

 of the abdomen. An abnormal accumulation of the elements of the Bile in 

 the Blood, is habitual in some persons; and it produces a degree of indisposi- 

 tion to bodily or mental exertion, which it is difficult to counteract. It may 

 often be recognized by the accumulation of dark mucus having distinctly the 

 taste of bile, on the surface of the tongue, especially during the night; this 

 secretion being apparently eliminated by the mucous membrane of the tongue, 

 when the function of the liver is not duly performed. 



833. Much discussion has taken place among Chemists, in regard to the 

 proximate principles of the Biliary secretion ; a large number of analyses hav- 

 ing been made, amongst the results of which there is great want of conformity. 

 The discrepancies principally arise from this source, that the secretion is 

 acted on with great facility by chemical reagents ; so that many of the com- 

 ponent parts which have been enumerated, are not true educts ; but are pro- 

 ducts of the operations, to which the fluid has been subjected. The propor- 

 tion of solid' matter is usually from to 12 per cent.; and nearly the whole of 

 this consists of substances peculiar to Bile. 



a. The following,' are the general results of the analyses made hy Berzelius, of Human 

 Bile, and of that uf the Ox: 



* This, at least, was found to be the case, in the only instance in which the liver was 

 examined with sutiiririit care. 



f See Dr. Alison in Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal, vol. xliv. p 287. 



