ITS QUANTITY. 79 



common biliary duct through an introduced canula) during the 

 second hour after feeding, the quantity increases so rapidly, that 

 during the fourth hour it secretes 0'629, during the sixth 0'750, 

 the eighth 0'825, and in the tenth hour, 0*850 of a gramme of 

 bile ; so that, from the second up to the end of the tenth hour, 

 the quantity of bile secreted increases, on an average, by 0-045 of a 

 gramme in an hour. Moreover, the diminution in the secretion of 

 bile takes place somewhat rapidly after the end of the tenth hour, 

 the average hourly decrease from this maximum to the end of 

 the twenty-fourth hour being 0'028 of a gramme. 



With the view of determining the quantitative relation of the 

 biliary secretion to the other animal excretions a point of the 

 greatest importance in estimating the physiological value of the 

 bile Bidder and Schmidt have instituted a series of statistico- 

 analytical experiments on dogs, 011 about forty cats, thirteen geese, 

 and several sheep and rabbits, in which biliary fistulse had been 

 instituted. They first determined the amount of carbonic acid 

 expired by these animals, and then ascertained the ratio in which 

 the secreted bile stood to it ; and the result of these laborious inves- 

 tigations is, that "only from l-10th to l-40th of the carbon sepa- 

 rated by the lungs is secreted in an equal time by the liver in the 

 form of bile, so that at least 8-9ths or 9-10ths of the burned and 

 expired combustible materials do not pass through the intermediate 

 stage of bile, but remain in the circulating blood, where they 

 become thoroughly oxidized," 



In order to be enabled to form a definite opinion regarding 

 that much disputed question, the physiological importance of the 

 bile, it will be expedient previously to establish a view regarding 

 the origin or formation of the bile, from the facts with which 

 science has as yet supplied us. The biliary secretion has always 

 been regarded either as a pure function of the digestive process, 

 or as a definite factor in the general ceconomy of the animal 

 organism. The difficulty of deciding between these views seems half 

 removed when we have a clear understanding regarding the 

 formation of the bile, that is to say, regarding the substances from 

 which its proximate constituents are formed. We have already 

 seen in the first volume that unfortunately there is still consider- 

 able obscurity regarding the origin of the individual substances 

 which constitute the bile. Nevertheless, we trust to find in certain 

 positive experiments and observations, a logical justification for 

 either one or the other hypothesis. That which applies to the 

 individual constituents, applies also to the bile collectively; the 



