BILE-PIGMENT. 323 



taneously pass into the transudations. In every case in which I 

 have hitherto examined dropsical effusions dependent on affections 

 of the liver, I have found in the alcoholic extract, if it has been 

 previously extracted with ether, and usually also in the ether- 

 extract, substances which gave the well known reaction very 

 distinctly and rapidly, so that they could not be confounded with 

 olein. In dropsy from heart-disease (without any secondary affec- 

 tion of the liver) or from Bright's disease, I never succeeded in 

 detecting these biliary matters. On the other hand, I was much 

 surprised to find unquestionable traces of the resinous biliary 

 acids, together with large quantities of cholesterin, in two cases of 

 hydrocele, when neither by physical examination of the patients, 

 nor from the history of their cases, could I detect any evidence of 

 an existing or previous hepatic affection. This circumstance must 

 remain unexplained till further investigations are instituted. 



I must not altogether omit to mention, that from the alcoholic 

 extract of the liquor amnii, and still more from that of the vernix 

 caseosa of an infant that had gone its full time, I obtained a 

 substance which, although precipitable only by basic acetate of 

 lead, gave no biliary reaction with sugar and sulphuric acid : the 

 ammonia-salt of this acid crystallized under the microscope in 

 broad plates. 



That bile-pigment passes into the transudations, both normal 

 and morbid, in cases of icterus, was long ago inferred from the 

 characteristic colour of such fluids, and has subsequently been 

 placed beyond a doubt by chemical experiments. It is, however, 

 remarkable that in the two above mentioned cases of hydrocele, in 

 which resinous biliary acids were found, traces of bile-pigment 

 were also present, besides a very large amount of cholesterin. 

 Its presence might have been very easily established with 

 certainty, but it was not rendered perceptible until a part of the 

 albumen had been precipitated from the fluid by acetic acid, when, 

 on boiling, there was formed a green coagulum, and the super- 

 natant fluid appeared of a somewhat deep green colour. 



Heller has arrived at similar results in his investigation of 

 various putrid, purulent, sanguineous hydrocele-fluids ; but he also 

 found uric acid, urea, margarate of soda, and glycocholate of soda 

 in abundance. 



It has been already mentioned (in vol. i., p. 291) that sugar is 

 found in the serous exudations in diabetes, in the same manner as 

 bile-pigment in icterus. After the discovery of this substance in 

 healthy blood, it might be expected that it would likewise occur 



Y 2 



