62 BILE. 



lapsed intestine must be returned, and the wound, as when we 

 establish a gastric fistula, closed by strong twisted sutures; an 

 incision must then be made into the gall-bladder, and the outer 

 edges of the wound secured, as in the case of the stomach. After 

 this operation, which is far the more severe of the two, animals 

 much more frequently die from peritonitis and enteritis, than after 

 the establishment of a gastric fistula. If we make the ductus 

 choledochus open directly on the external surface of the body, the 

 prognosis is still more unfavourable, since the canal becomes 

 attached with less facility and certainty to the abdominal walls. 

 It is advisable to introduce a small glass tube or a silver canula 

 into the duct immediately after the operation, in order to prevent 

 the bile from coming in contact with the lips of the wound. 



Physiologists have ever held the most different and opposite 

 views regarding the function of the liver and of its secretion, and 

 even at the present day the subject is involved in the greatest 

 obscurity ; and in regard to the nature of the bile itself, since zoo- 

 chemical analyses of it were first attempted, there have been so 

 many difficulties and impediments in the way of prosecuting them, 

 that it is only during the last few years that any light has been 

 thrown upon this most obscure of all the departments of animal 

 chemistry. The most distinguished chemists of our time, found- 

 ing their views on the most exact experiments, have been led to 

 perfectly different results regarding the constitution of the bile ; 

 we shall, however, consider it in the following manner, which is 

 based on the most recent investigations conducted under Liebig's 

 auspices, and explains many of the former points of difference : 



Every kind of bile contains two essential constituents, namely, 

 a resinous and a colouring constituent. 



The resinous constituent is, as a general rule, the soda-salt of 

 one of the conjugated acids described in vol. I, pp. 222-235, 

 whose adjunct is glycine or taurine. 



The colouring principle of the bile has also been described in 

 vol. I, pp. 312-318 : it occurs in combination with an alkali in 

 the bile. 



A third never-failing constituent is the cholesterin described in 

 vol. I, pp. 272-279. 



Besides these essential constituents, we also find fats and 

 combinations of the alkalies with fatty acids in the bile. 



Moreover, we find in the bile the same mineral salts which 

 occur in most other animal fluids ; namely, chloride of sodium 

 (the principal salt), a little phosphate and carbonate of soda 



