BILE. 61 



BILE. 



The bile of different animals does not present exactly the same 

 physical properties; in the following points, however, we find a 

 tolerable identity of character between the different kinds of this 

 secretion. When derived from the gall-bladder, the bile occurs as 

 a mucous, transparent fluid, capable of being drawn out in threads, 

 of a green or brown colour, of a bitter but not astringent taste 

 and sometimes leaving a rather sweet after-taste, and of a peculiar 

 odour, which, when the bile is warmed, often vividly reminds the 

 observer of musk. Its specific gravity is about T02 : bile does not 

 diffuse itself readily through water, unless the^ mixture be stirred ; 

 it is usually weakly alkaline, often perfectly neutral, and only in 

 disease, and then rarely, acid. Bile in its ordinary state, before its 

 mucus is removed, putrefies very readily, but when it is freed from 

 mucus, putrefaction is not easily induced. 



Fresh human bile can only be obtained from the bodies of 

 criminals immediately after their execution ; the bile of animals is 

 commonly obtained from the gall-bladder immediately after they 

 have been killed; in the case of animals like the stag and the 

 roe, which possess no gall-bladder, it is only rarely that we can 

 obtain from the larger biliary ducts a quantity of bile sufficient for 

 an accurate analysis. With the view of more accurately studying 

 the relations of the biliary secretion and its influence on digestion, 

 Blondlot,* Schwann,f and C. Schmidt J have established biliary 

 fistuloe in animals. These fistulse are made in the same way as 

 gastric fistulse, by cutting through the abdominal walls, but the 

 incision in this case must be somewhat longer ; we then raise up 

 the lower border of the left lobe of the liver, and search for the 

 ductus choledochus at the point where it opens into the duodenum ; 

 if the animal has a gall-bladder, the best plan is to tie the above- 

 named duct at two spots and to cut away some of the intervening 

 portion ; all the bile must then flow through the cystic duct into 

 the gall-bladder. The latter must then be separated as well as 

 possible, and as far as is necessary, from its attachment to the 

 liver, and drawn forth from the abdominal cavity, while any pro- 



* Essai sur les fonctions du foie et de ses annexes. Paris, 1846. 



t Mullet's Archiv. 1844. S. 127-162. 



$ Buchheim's Beitr. z. Arzneimittellehre. Leipz. 1849. S. 116. 



