OBSERVATIONS OX A DOG WITH BILIARY FISTULA. 371 



death. The gall-bladder was somewhat contracted but not 

 obliterated, and the fistula would admit the largest-sized 

 male catheter. Both ends of the divided bile-duct were 

 found impervious. There was no passage for the bile into 

 the intestine. The abdominal organs were normal, with the 

 exception of evidences of slight peritoneal inflammation 

 around the wound and over the convex surface of the liver. 

 There was no fat in the omentum or anywhere in the body, 

 except a very small quantity at the bottom of the orbit. 



The above observation is a type of the instances which 

 are not very numerous in which the bile has been complete- 

 ly shut off from the intestine and discharged externally by a 

 fistula into the gall-bladder. As far as could be ascertained, 

 this animal, from the first, presented no disturbances which 

 were not due solely to the absence of the bile from the intes- 

 tine, and its discharge externally. Though the phenomena 

 here presented do not teach us much that is definite concern- 

 ing the digestive action of the bile, taken in connection with 

 what has been ascertained concerning the general properties 

 of this secretion, they throw some light upon its function. 



One of the functions which has been ascribed to the bile 

 is that of regulating the peristaltic movements .of the small 

 intestine, and of preventing putrefactive changes in the in- 

 testinal contents and the abnormal development of gas. Ex- 

 periments on this point are somewhat conflicting. Our own 

 observations would lead us to doubt the constant influence of 

 the bile upon the peristaltic movements. During the first 

 few days of the experiment, the dejections were very rare ; 

 but they afterward became regular, and at one time, even, 

 there was a tendency to diarrhoea. There can be no doubt, 

 however, that the bile retards the putrefaction of the con- 

 tents of the intestinal canal, particularly when animal food 

 has been taken. The faeces in the dog, as far as our own 

 observation goes, were always extremely offensive. Bidder 

 and Schmidt found this to be the case in dogs fed entirely 

 on meat ; but the faeces were nearly odorless when the ani- 



