342 BILE-PIGMENTS 



In tho article ALLOTS will be found the quantity of the baser metal which is per- 

 mitted to bo combined with gold ; and also tho proportions of tho alloys forming tho 

 brasses which are employed in tho false jewellery. 



Under their respective heads the true gems will bo described (see DIAMOND, 

 EMERALD, &c.) ; and under GEMS, ARTIFICIAL, tho imitations of them ; many of the 

 fake so nicely representing tho peculiarities of tho true gems as to deceive even the 

 practised eye. Tho hardness is, however, an unfailing test ; if, therefore, any gem is 

 found to bo scratched with a stool file, we may depend on its being artificial. Seo 

 also PEARLS, ARTIFICIAL ; LAPIDARY WORK ; GLASS, &c. 



BIKH, BISH, or NABEE. An Indian poison prepared from the root of the 

 Aconitum fcror, a native of Nopaul, and from other species of aconite. It is said t<> 

 possess the concentrated power of all the European aconites. This is doubtful ; 

 the poisonous properties of some of the monkshoods are little known. Recently (1873), 

 some children from the Falmouth Workhouse, playing on the beach at Mainforth, 

 found some roots washed on shore, and four of them ate small portions within two 

 or three hours three of tho boys died, and tho life of the other was only saved by 

 the greatest attention. See ACONITCM. 



BZXiE. (Bile, Fr. ; Galle, Gor.) The secreted liquor of the liver in animals. 



Bile (ox's) is composed, according to Berzelius, of biline, fellinic acid, and fat of 

 gall, 8'00 ; mucus, - 30 ; alkali combined with biline, &c., 0-41 ; muriate of sock, 

 extractive matter, 074 ; phosphate of soda, do. of lime, &c., O'll ; water, 90 - 44 

 = 100-00. 



Thenard's analysis gives resin of bile and picromel (acid gallenato of soda), 10-54 ; 

 colouring-matter, 0'50 ; soda, 0'50 ; phosphate of soda, 0*25 ; muriate of soda, 0'40 ; 

 sulphate of soda, O'lO ; sulphate of lime, 0'16 ; traces of oxide of iron, water, 87'56 ; 

 = 100-00. 



The analyses of Benach (' Ann. Ch. Phar.') give the following as the composition 

 of the gall of several animals : 



Carbon Hydrogen Nitrogen Sulphur Ash 



Calves . . 55-4 . . 77 . . 3'3 . . 4'9 . . 13-15 



Sheep . . 57-3 . . 7'8 . . 3'9 . . 57 . . 11'86 



Goats . . 57-3 . . 8'2 5'2 . . 13-21 



Bears . . 577 . . 8'3 5'8 . . 8-42 



Fowls . . 57'5 . . 8-3 . . 3-5 . . 5-0 . . 10-99 



Fish . . . 56-0 . . 8-1 . . 2-5 . . 5-6 . . 14-11 



Strccker and Mulder havo published two treatises on ox-gall. The views advo- 

 cated by these chemists will be found in tho ' Annual Report of the Progress of 

 Chemistry of Liebig and Kopp,' translated by Hofmann and Do la Rue. 



It has been shewn by Strieker's researches that bilo is largely composed of tho 

 soda-salts of two peculiar acids called glycocholic and taurocholic acids. Glycocholic 

 acid may bo prepared by extracting ox-bile with cold absolute alcohol, and treating 

 tho filtered extract with ether, when crystals of alkaline glycocholates are obtained ; 

 these were formerly termed crystallised bile. When the salts are decomposed by 

 sulphuric acid, glycocholic acid is set free. This acid contains C M H 4S N0 12 (C'^H^WO 6 ). 

 Boiled with a solution of potash, it is resolved into cholic acid and glycoc'me. The 

 second acid of the bile taurocholic acid, formerly called bilin has not hitherto been 

 isolated in a state of purity. When boiled with alkalies tho impure product is 

 resolved into cholic acid, and a substance called taurin, which contains C J H'NS'-'0 8 

 (C 2 H'XJTSO 3 ). A fatty matter, known as cholcsterin is also present, to a small 

 extent, in the bile, and forms the chief ingredient in biliary calculi. 



It is notable that the liver is capable of developing, in the blood which circulates 

 through it, an amyloid substance called glycogen, which is readily changed into 

 liver-sugar, or glucose. 



Heintz remarks (Poggendorffs 'Annalen'), that the change of colour sometimes 

 produced for it does not appear always by nitric acid in liquids containing bilo 

 (first green, then blue, violet, red, and lastly, yellow), is occasioned only by the 

 colouring-matter, which Berzelius has named cholepyrrhin, and not by tho essential 

 constituents of tho bile, and can therefore bo regarded only as a test for tho presence 

 of this substance. 



Pettenkofcr's test for bile consists in adding a drop of sulphuric acid and a 

 solution of sugar, whon a purple-violet colour is produced if bilo be present. 



For the further chemical examination of bile, see ' Watts's Dictionary of Chemistry ; ' 

 for its uses in tho arts, see GALL. 



BXXiE-PXOMXSHrTS. A series of colouring matters produced from bile by Dr. 

 Thudichum, See ' Watts's Dictionary of Chemistry.' 



