OBSERVATIONS JDN A DOG WITH BILIARY FISTULA. 37$ 



the digestion and absorption of other articles of food. A 

 fact which indicates a connection between the bile and the 

 process of digestion is that the flow of this secretion, though 

 constant, is greatly increased when food passes into the intes- 

 tinal canal. This has been noted by all who have experi- 

 mented on the subject. The following observations on a 

 dog, showing the variations in the flow of bile from the fistu- 

 la, were made twelve days after the fistula had been estab- 

 lished, when the weight of the animal had been reduced from 

 twelve to ten pounds : 



Table of Variations in the Flow of Bile with Digestion. 1 



(At each observation, the bile was drawn for precisely thirty minutes.) 



Disregarding slight variations in this table, which might 

 be accidental, it may be stated, in general terms, that the 

 bile commences to increase in quantity immediately after 

 eating ; that its flow is at its maximum from the second to 

 the eighth hour, during which time the quantity does not 

 vary to any great extent ; after the eighth hour it begins to 



1 The entire quantity of bile in the twenty-four hours, estimated from these 

 observations by taking an average of the quantities obtained in all the observa- 

 tions and multiplying by forty-eight, was 833-933 grains, with 30-003 grains of 

 dry residue. The question of the entire quantity of bile produced by the human 

 subject in the twenty-four hours will be considered hereafter under the head of 

 excretion. 



