

CHAP. IV.] THE MUCOID NUCLEO-ALBUMIN OF BILE. 335 



. Hoppe-Seyler "has enunciated the view that the 



seyier's and spectrum of the so-called cholohaematin is due to the 

 MacMunn's formation, by a ^process of oxidation, of bilicyanin 1 . 

 views on the iyj ac ]y| unn very correctly points out the erroneous 

 lo^aematin ' nature of this explanation 2 . The latter author, upon 

 several grounds, but especially from the fact that by the 

 action of sodium amalgam on his cholohsematin he obtained a body 

 with an absorption spectrum very closely resembling that of hsemato- 

 porphyrin, argues that cholohsematin is a derivative of hsematin. 

 This view in so far as the normal bile-colouring matters, bilirubin 

 and biliverdin, are concerned, is the one which has been generally 

 held and is probably correct. What the relations of the hypo- 

 thetical individual (if it be one) cholohsematin to the other bile- 

 colouring matters may be, is a question concerning which we possess 

 no information, and the solution of which requires a thorough 

 chemical investigation, such as those by which Heintz, Stadeler, 

 and Maly gradually evolved our knowledge of bilirubin and biliverdin. 

 The researches of MacMunn have, however, served the useful purpose 

 of drawing very particular attention to the subject. 



Bilifuscin and bilihumin are two products, probably derivatives of 

 bilirubin and biliverdin, which are found in gall-stones, and which will 

 be briefly treated of in connection with these concretions. Biliprasin is 

 the name given by Stadeler to a colouring matter which he found in the 

 gall-stones of the ox and which is now believed to be a mixture of 

 biliverdin and bilihumin (q. v.). 



SECT. 11. THE MUCOID NUCLEO- ALBUMIN OF THE BILE. 



It has already been stated that the bile, as it flows from the 

 smaller hepatic ducts, is a non-viscid liquid, of which the specific 

 constituents are the salts of the bile acids and the bile-colouring 

 matters, but that by admixture with the secretion of the glands 

 situated in the mucous membrane which lines the gall-bladder and 

 the excretory ducts, it assumes a viscidity which is most marked 

 when the bile has sojourned longest in the gall-bladder. 



The viscid Berzelius was the first chemist to study the body 



constituent of which conferred upon the bile its viscous character and 

 eri 6 Sieved" ^ e came to tne conclusion that this body was mucin 

 to be mucln a v ^ ew wn ^ cn wa s held until lately. The researches of 

 Landwehr, published since the 1st volume of this book 

 appeared, have established that the true mucins yield, as essential 

 products of their decomposition, when boiled with dilute mineral 

 acids or when subjected to the action of superheated steam, an 



1 Hoppe-Seyler, Handbuch /. phys. u. path, che.m. Analyse, 6te Aufl. Berlin, 1893, 

 p. 226. 



2 MacMunn, Proc. Royal Soc. 1883, No. 226, and Journ. of Phys. Vol. vi. p. 26. 



