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V. " Experimental Researches on the Functions of the Mucous 

 Membrane of the Gall-bladder, principally with reference 

 to the Conversion of Hepatic into Cystic Bile." By 

 GEORGE KEMP, M.D. Cantab. Communicated by the 

 Rev. W. CLARK, M.D., F.R.S., Professor of Anatomy in 

 the University of Cambridge. Received May 1, 1856. 



(Abstract.) 



Referring to the well-known difference in taste and other physical 

 properties between the bile as it immediately proceeds from the liver 

 and the same fluid after it has been retained for a time in the gall- 

 bladder, the author observes, that the nature of this difference and 

 the agency by which it is effected, are questions which have not yet 

 met with the attention they deserve, and that he had accordingly 

 been led to make them the subject of experimental inquiry. As, 

 however, it is only on rare occasions that the hepatic bile can be 

 procured in quantity sufficient for chemical experiment, and then 

 only at the risk of its being altered by pathological conditions 

 of the secreting organ, the author considers that, however clearly 

 individual facts on the subject may be demonstrated, any deductions 

 made therefrom must be referred to the lower department of pro- 

 bable evidence ; and it is with this reservation that he lays his con- 

 clusions before the Royal Society, whilst, at the same time, he 

 believes that, so far as the nature of the case admits, he has been 

 able to elicit a new fact respecting the mucous membrane of the gall- 

 bladder, which may lead to the better comprehension of the functions 

 of mucous membranes generally. 



Assuming, in the first place, that the change in properties which 

 the bile undergoes in the gall-bladder is brought about either by the 

 mucous secretion of that reservoir, or by some operation exerted by 

 its internal membrane, it is observed, with respect to the action of 

 the mucus, 1st, that when left in the gall-bladder in contact with 

 the cystic bile, it is capable of subverting the composition of that 

 fluid. 2nd, That this change is much accelerated by even a mode- 

 rately elevated temperature. 3rd, That when the contents of the 

 gall-bladder are evaporated to a syrupy consistence, the bile, at first 



VOL. VIII. N 



