354 The Viscosity of Bile [April-July. 



and biliary passages. This condition having been relieved by an 

 Operation, the patient continued to discharge large quantities of an 

 extremely viscid bile. But, in spite of the fact that the bile collected 

 in surprisingly heavy strings when poured from the beaker, it tra- 

 versed the capillary-tube with greatest ease. The coefficient of the 

 viscosity showed the numerical value 2218 and, hence, this type of 

 bile was only 2.1 times more viscous than distilled water at 37° C. 

 Its specific gravity was very low, namely i.oio. 



Just the reverse relationship between these two factors was 

 found to exist in bile which I procured at autopsy from a person 

 who had suffered from septic pericarditis and lobar pneumonia. 

 The liver was enlarged and markedly hyperaemic. In spite of the 

 fact that this bile exhibited no unusual degree of viscidity, its vis- 

 cosity was very high, namely, 9.8 times greater than that of distilled 

 water at 37° C. Its specific gravity was high, namely 1.039. 



THE EFFECT OF CHANGES IN TEMPERATURE UPON THE 



VISCOSITY OF OX BILE 



It has been shown that the viscous resistance of dog bile is al- 

 ready very considerable at a temperature of 37° C. On subjecting it 

 to lower temperatures, its viscosity increased steadily until, at 20° C, 

 several of the samples enumerated in Table i became so viscous that 

 they could scarcely be f orced through the capillary tube. Thus, one 

 sample which, at 37° C, had shown a viscosity 7.0 times greater 

 than that of distilled water, became 15.8 times more viscous at 

 20° C. 



The three experiments enumerated in Table 2 have been made 

 with different samples of ox bile. Beginning at 20° C, two de- 

 terminations were made at 30° and 37° C. in each case. A glance at 

 the column containing the average values, clearly proves that the 

 viscosity decreases very markedly with increasing temperature- 

 Thus, if Experiment 2 is selected for illustration, it is seen that the 

 coefficient 1766.9 obtained at 20° C. is changed to 2359.1 at 30° C. 

 and to 2718.3 at 37° C. Compared with distilled water, the initial 

 ratio of i :2.6 becomes i :2.o at 30° C. and i : 1.7 at 37° C. It is 

 also evident that the change in the viscosity is not constant for each 

 degree of temperature, but becomes steadily slighter as the high 



