476 



OF SECRETION AND EXCRETION. 



carefully examined by Drs. Robert Lee, 1 Hering, 2 and Pfliiger. 3 Dr. Lee has 

 shown them to be chiefly connected with the semilunar ganglion and sym- 

 pathetic plexus surrounding the root of the hepatic artery, the minutest 

 branches of which they accompany. Pfliiger believes he has been able to 

 trace the nerves into connection with the hepatic cells, but Hering maintains 

 that all demonstrable nerves lie on the other side of the lobules. 



391. The first and most obvious function performed by the Liver is the 

 secretion of Bile. For this the arrangement of the cells and ducts appears 

 to be primarily designed ; and by their means a considerable quantity of 

 material, rich in carbon and hydrogen, is, temporarily at least, eliminated 

 from the blood, whilst at the same time a liquid is provided, the utility of 

 which in promoting the absorption of food, and especially of oleaginous food, 

 has been already sufficiently considered ( 124). But the large size of this 

 organ in comparison with the amount of secretion poured into the alimentary 

 canal ; its constant presence in almost all classes of animals, how various 

 soever the nature of their food may be; its manifest activity in the foetus 

 before the ingestion of any food has taken place; the large supply of blood 

 which it receives from different sources, as well as the peculiar relations 

 which it holds to the blood returning from the placenta in the foetus, and 

 from the abdominal viscera in the adult are all circumstances suggesting 

 that other functions than the secretion of the Bile are here performed ; and 

 from the results of comparatively recent research, it may now be considered 

 as fairly established, that it exerts an assimilative or elaborating action on 

 the freshly absorbed materials of our food, and especially upon the albumin- 

 ous and saccharine constituents, whereby they become more fitted for the 

 nutrition of the body; and that in the course of these assimilative changes, 

 the activity of which is indicated by the high temperature of the organ, and 

 perhaps as a consequence of them, a material analogous to sugar is formed, 

 whose ultimate destination is still undetermined, but which there is some 

 reason for believing, in part either directly or indirectly combines with oxygen, 

 and thus becomes subservient to the maintenance of animal heat, and in part 

 is on the way to histological formation. The production of this substance' is 

 termed Glycogeny, and will be considered after the characters and mode of 

 formation of the Bile have been discussed. The following are analyses of 

 the Bile contained in the human Gall-bladder, by Frerichs and v. Gorup- 

 Besanez : 4 



1 Proceedings of lioyal Society, vol. xii,p 246. 



2 Strieker's Human and Comparative Histology, Syd. Soc. Trans., vol. ii, p. 33. 



3 Archiv f. Physiology, Bd. iv, p. 53. 4 Phys. Chem , 1875, p. 529. 



