364 DIGESTION. 



mal should live in perfect health for years with all the bile 

 discharged by a fistula. 



There is reason to believe that the experiment of Blond- 

 lot was inaccurate, and that a communication existed between 

 the bile-duct and the duodenum, which was not discovered 

 at the dissection after death. The following observation 

 strengthens us in this opinion : 



We made an attempt on one occasion to ascertain the 

 total amount of bile secreted in twenty-four hours ; and with 

 this view, the ductus comrnunis choledicus was exposed in a 

 dog ; the bile contained in the gall-bladder was pressed out ; a 

 canula, with an elastic bag attached, was fixed in the duct ; 

 and the external wound closed, leaving the end of the canula, 

 with the bag attached, protruding from the abdomen. The 

 bag ruptured twenty-three hours after, and the experiment 

 was consequently unsuccessful in the end for which it was 

 undertaken. The tube dropped out at the end of forty-eight 

 hours, and the external wound quickly healed. Thirty days 

 after the operation, the animal was killed. He had then en- 

 tirely recovered, and no bile had been discharged externally 

 for a long time. The alvine dejections were perfectly nor- 

 mal, and there could be no doubt that the bile was regularly 

 discharged into the duodenum. On dissection after death, 

 the liver was found normal, and the papilla which marks 

 the opening of the bile-duct into the duodenum was natural 

 in appearance. It was with the greatest difficulty, however, 

 that the communication between the bile-duct and the duo- 

 denum could be found ; yet, after patient searching for more 

 than an hour, a small tortuous tract was discovered. Had 

 it not been certain that bile had been constantly discharged 

 into the intestine, it might have been assumed, even after 

 careful examination, that no such communication existed. 1 

 This examination convinced us that it was possible that the 

 communication between the duct and the intestine had been 



I 0p.cit.) American Journal of the Medical Sciences, October, 1862. 



