2i54 Mr BAXTER, ON ORGANIC POLARITY. 



Sect. II. On the Manifestation of Current Force during Biliary Secretion. 



If the platinum electrodes of the galvanometer be inserted one into tlie gall-bladder, 

 and the other into the hepatic vein, or which will be found better still, in consequence of 

 the blood flowing over the intestines, into the vena cava ascendens in the chest, we then 

 obtain evidence of the manifestation of current force ; the electrode in contact with the 

 blood in the vein being positive to the other in contact with the bile in the gall-bladder. 

 The amount of deflection of the needle varies from 5" to 10". 



When the electrode, instead of being inserted into the hepatic vein or into the vena 

 cava ascendens, is inserted into the vena porta, the other remaining in the gall-bladder, the 

 former will still indicate a positive state ; but the effect upon the needle is not so great. 



It will not be necessary to detail the results that may be obtained when other cir- 

 cuits are formed, between pieces of liver and clots of blood, &c. for example, shewing the 

 effects of heterogeneity of the substances in contact with the electrodes, as these can be 

 found in the original papers already alluded to. But the following conclusion may be de- 

 duced : when the electrodes of a galvanometer are brought into contact, one with the bile in 

 the gall-bladder, and the other with the blood in the hepatic vein, or vena cava ascendens, an 

 effect occurs upon the needle, indicating the secreted product (the bile) and the blood to be in 

 opposite electric states. 



It may be said, and with apparent justice, that if the actions which occur during secretion 

 be similar to those that take place in the exciting cell of a voltaic battery, as was suggested in 

 the previous Section, the electrode in contact with the alkaline bile ought now to indicate a 

 positive state. 



The force of this objection depends entirely upon the assumption that the bile contains a 

 free alkali. The researches of chemists, and especially Liebig, have however shewn that with 

 the alkaline bases which exist in the bile, are associated peculiar organic acids, such as the 

 bilic, choleic, &c. As these acid compounds are easily decomposed, we should not be justified 

 in supposing, from finding a number of indestructible basic elements which exist in the 

 ultimate analysis of the bile, that these basic elements therefore existed as such in the com- 

 position of the bile ; and although the bile may present an alkaline reaction, this alone would 

 not necessarily indicate the existence of a free alkali. It would appear more reasonable to 

 suppose that these basic elements existed in combination with the destructible organic acids. 

 Similar remarks may undoubtedly be made respecting the composition of the blood, but the 

 chemical evidence in favour of the existence of a free alkali in the blood is far stronger than 

 that for its existence in the bile. The opinion that the fluidity of the blood may be depen- 

 dent upon the alkaline salts has been long entertained by physiologists, and would appear to 

 have received strong confirmation from the recent experiments of Dr Richardson*, to which 

 I may refer. 



Having so far removed this objection, the same remarks that were made in regard to the 

 secretion that occurs in the intestinal canal, and which I need not recapitulate, may now be 



• The Cause of the Coagulation of the Blood. Churchill, 1858. 



