252 EXCRETION. 



organ. 1 The same independence of the glycogenic and bil- 

 iary portions of the liver has been argued by others. Among 

 the latest publications on this subject is a review of the 

 question by Accolas ; 3 but although this was published in 

 1867, there is no mention of the late researches, to which 

 we have referred so fully, on the origin of the ducts in the 

 lobules. 



The fact of bile being found in the lobular canals and 

 the demonstration of the direct communication of these 

 canals with the excretory biliary ducts are powerful ar- 

 guments in favor of the view that the bile is formed in the 

 lobules, and probably by the liver-cells. What, then, is the 

 function of the little acini connected exclusively with the 

 biliary ducts ? The similarity of their structure to that of the 

 ordinary mucous glands, and to the mucous glands of the 

 gall-bladder especially, would lead to the supposition that 

 they secrete a mucous fluid. It is well known that the bile 

 taken from the gall-bladder contains more mucus than that 

 discharged directly from the liver ; but the bile of the he- 

 patic duct in most animals is somewhat viscid and contains a 

 certain amount of mucus. This is the view entertained by 

 Sappey, who states that the bile is viscid in different animals 

 in proportion to the development of these little glands ; 

 and in the rabbit, in which the glands do not exist, the bile 

 is remarkably fluid. 3 



Inasmuch as there is no direct evidence that the racemose 

 glands attached to the excretory biliary passages have any 

 thing to do with the secretion of the essential constituents 

 of the bile, and as they are not even to be found in some 

 animals that produce a considerable quantity of bile, we 

 must regard the question of the isolation of two organs in 



1 LITTRE ET ROBIN, Dictionnaire de medecine, Paris, 1865, p. 611, Article, 

 Foie, and Lemons sur les humeurs, Paris, 1867, p. 551, et seq. 



2 ACCOLAS, Essai sur Vorigine des canalicules hepatiques et sur I 'independance 

 des appareils biliaire et glycogene dufoie, Strasbourg, 1867. 



3 SAPPEY, Traite d 1 anatomic descriptive, Paris, 1857, tome iii., p. 280. 



