but only yellow coloured albumen and mucus. 



Thenard has observed and described a peculiar form of albu- 

 minous bile, which was perfectly colourless; it occurred in certain 

 cases of fatty liver. Frerichs directs attention to the film which is 

 often formed on the surface of morbid bile during evaporation; but 

 this membrane may be formed by the coagulation of mucus-juice 

 as readily as by casein-like substances ; in two cases of fatty liver 

 I believe, however, that I actually found albumen, for I treated the 

 bile with acetic acid as long as any precipitate (consisting of 

 mucus, and biliary and fatty acids) continued to be thrown down, 

 and then boiled the filtered fluid with hydrochlorate of ammonia, 

 (see vol. i. p. 334) ; a coagulum was then formed, which yielded the 

 ordinary reactions of the protein-bodies. Bernard* was the first 

 who detected albumen in the bile in Bright's disease. When the bile 

 contains pus, as is sometimes the case in abscesses of the liver, 

 albumen must obviously be present. 



In a case of obliteration of the cystic duct, in consequence of 

 which hy drops vesicce fellcce (as it has been termed) was developed, 

 I found that the colourless fluid in the gall-bladder contained traces 

 of coagulable matter, in addition to epithelium and mucus-juice. 



The occurrence of urea in the bile after extirpation of the 

 kidneys has been already noticed (see vol. i. p. 166) ; this substance 

 has also been found in the bile in Bright's disease and in cholera. 



The alcoholic extract of the bile of a man who died with the 

 symptoms of fatty degeneration of the kidneys, was extracted with 

 aqueous ether ; the ethereal extract, when treated with nitric acid, 

 yielded most distinct crystals of nitrate of urea ; fat-globules were 

 also present in it. Stannius and Sthamerf failed in detecting urea 

 either in the bile or in the kidneys of animals whose kidneys had 

 been extirpated. 



Bizio once discovered a dark red, non-bitter bile in a patient 

 suffering from icterus ; it contained an emerald-green pigment^ to 

 which he gave the name of erythrogen, from its volatilizing at 

 40 and giving off a red vapour. 



I found a similar substance in a case of acute yellow atrophy 

 of the liver ; its behaviour was precisely the same as that of Bizio's 

 erythrogen ; it was insoluble in water and ether, partially soluble 

 in alcohol, but dissolved readily in concentrated mineral acids 



* Bouisson,, de la bile, de ses varietes pliysiologiques et de ses alterations 

 inorbides. Montpellier, 1843. 



t Arch. f. phys. Heilk. Bd. 9, S. 201-219. 



