ACTION OF THE BILE IN DIGESTION. 365 



reestablished in Blondlot's case, and that it had escaped ob- 

 servation in the dissection after death. 



One point in the observations of Blondlot which makes it 

 evident that all the bile was not discharged by the fistula is 

 the repeated statement that the animal was perfectly well, 

 and no one would know from its appearance that it had a 

 fistula. In our own experiment, the lower part of the abdo- 

 men and the legs were covered with a thick coating of in- 

 crusted bile, and it was impossible to keep the parts clean. 

 This must take place if all the bile be discharged by a fis- 

 tula, and could hardly fail to attract the attention of every 

 one. 



The isolated experiment of Blondlot does not therefore 

 invalidate the results obtained by Schwann and confirmed 

 by so many eminent physiologists. The bile is not simply 

 an excretion, but has an important and essential office to 

 perform in the process of intestinal digestion. "We have, 

 however, conclusively shown that, in addition to its recremen- 

 titious function, it separates from the blood an important ex- 

 crementitious principle, cholesterine, which, under a modified 

 form, is discharged in the faeces. 1 This function of the liver 

 will be fully considered under the head of excretion. It is 

 sufficient for our present purposes to show that the bile, un- 

 like any other fluid in the organism, has two distinct func- 

 tion's, dependent upon two distinct classes of constituents. 

 The peculiar principles known as the biliary salts, which are 

 produced first in the liver, give it its digestive properties ; and 

 the cholesterine, which is simply separated from the blood by 

 the liver, gives it its excrementitious character. 



As we are much better acquainted with the excrementi- 

 tious than with the digestive function of the bile, we will 

 only consider, in this connection, a few of the points concern- 



1 See an article by the author, entitled Experimental Researches into a New 

 Excretory Function of the Liver; consisting in the removal of Cholesterine from 

 the Blood, and its discharge from the Body in the form of Slercorine (the Serolint 

 of Boudet}. American Journal of the Medical Sciences, October, 1862. 



