102 BILE. 



certainly quite true that the bile can directly contribute littleor 

 nothing to the neutralisation of the free acid ; on the one hand, 

 because the smallest quantity of acid added to the bile at once 

 renders it acid ; and on the other, because we find the chyme in 

 the intestine still acid after the bile has been well mixed with it. 

 The following appears to be what actually takes place : the alkali 

 of the bile, occurring in combination with the resinous and fatty 

 acids, must unite with the stronger acids of the chyme namely, 

 hydrochloric, lactic, and butyric acid, and the resinous biliary 

 acids which are thus liberated communicate an acid reaction to the 

 chyme (as may be perceived by the application of litmus paper), 

 until they are decomposed into dyslysin, or the insoluble resinous 

 acids deprived of their adjuncts. Hence, in one point of view, the 

 bile certainly contributes to the neutralisation of the free acids 

 contained in the chyme. This subject will be more fully con- 

 sidered in the chapter on " the intestinal contents." 



There is likewise another view regarding the uses of the bile in 

 the intestine, which hardly deserves to be totally rejected. Haller 

 was the first who ascribed to the bile the property of dissolving 

 fat ; the bile, however, only possesses this property in a slight 

 degree, although one of it constituents, the taurocholate of soda, 

 certainly has this power, as has been shown by Strecker. The 

 bile, in consequence of its viscidity, undoubtedly promotes the 

 disintegration of the fat into minute molecules ; but, even in this 

 respect, it is exceeded by other fluids. Hence we might believe 

 with Frerichs, that the bile, at all events in association with the 

 pancreatic juice, contributes to the perfect disintegration of the fat, 

 and thus considerably promotes its absorption ; and the results of 

 several of the earlier experimenters, who, after tying the ductus 

 choledochus, found an almost limpid, instead of a milky (fatty) 

 chyle, would support this view. On the other hand, Bidder and 

 Schmidt, in their experiments (which will be subsequently 

 described), could observe no difference in the injection of the 

 lacteals and the opacity of the chyle of animals to whom fat had 

 been given, whether the bile was allowed to enter, or whether it 

 was excluded from the intestine. 



Some writers (and especially Hiinefeld*) have ascribed to the 

 bile a great power of dissolving the chyme, but neither starch, nor 

 coagulated protein-bodies, nor any other of the constituents of the 

 chyme, are essentially changed, even when digested for a long time 

 with fresh bile ; indeed, as a general rule, no change seems to be 

 * Cheinie u. Medecin. S. 105. 



