344 Observations on the Effects of the Bile, &c. 
conjunctive of the eyes were tinged with bile, and bile was seen 
in the urine. But at the end of seven or eight days, I found, in 
several instances, that an effort was made by nature to repair 
the injury done by the operation, and to restore the passage of 
the bile into the intestine. In these instances, on destroying 
the animal at the end of the above-mentioned period, and 
exposing the cavity of the abdomen, and then making an 
opening into the duodenum, I ascertained that on compressing 
the gall bladder the bile flowed out of the orifice of the chole- 
doch duct in a full stream, in spite of the ligature. On further 
dissection, I found that a mass of albumen, (coagulable lymph,) 
had been effused, adhering to the choledoch duct above and 
below the ligature, and to the neighbouring parts, and enclosing 
acavity in which the ligature was contained. The pressure of 
the latter had caused the duct to ulcerate, without adhesion 
having taken place of the surfaces which had been brought into 
contact; and the ligature, having been separated from it by 
ulceration, lay loose in the cavity formed by the albumen which 
had been effused around it. Into this cavity the bile might be 
made to flow from the upper orifice, and out of it into the lower 
orifice of the choledoch duct; and thus the continuity of the 
canal intended for the passage of the bile was restored. It is 
still more remarkable that the same thing happened even when 
two ligatures had been applied on the choledoch duct at some 
distance from each other, 
The physiologist will not fail to observe the difference between 
the effects produced by a ligature applied to an excretory tube 
and a ligature applied to an artery or vein. A circumstance nearly 
corresponding to that which I have now mentioned, has been 
noticed by Mr. Travers, respecting the consequences which follow 
the application of a ligature round the intestine *. 
I remain, dear Sir, 
Yours,"een.. 
December 9, 1822. B. C. Bropiz. 
* See an Inquiry respecting the process of Nature in repairing Injuries of 
the Intestines. By B. Travers. London, 1812. 
