342 



THE IRON OF THE BILE. 



[BOOK ii. 



Gamgee and At the suggestion and under the personal direction 

 of ^ e Author > E> r P. A. Young 1 subsequently carried 

 out in the laboratory of the former, at Surgeons' Hall, 



Edinburgh, the first systematic investigation on the amount of iron 



in the bile of man, the dog and the ox. 



Hoppe-Seyler Subsequently, Hoppe-Seyler 2 and afterwards Kunkel 3 

 observations 1 ' re - investi gated the matter and amply confirmed the 

 results obtained in the Author's laboratory. The fol- 

 lowing are the results obtained. 



Quantity of Iron in the Bile. 



The idea which suggested to the Author the research, which was 

 carried out by Young, was that from the iron in the bile an estimate 

 might be probably formed of the destruction of haemoglobin occurring 

 in the liver ; there being strong grounds for assuming that bilirubin 

 is formed by the decomposition of the hsematin residue of haemo- 

 globin (see p. 349 et seq.). Kunkel found, however, that the relation 

 of the iron to the bilirubin in the bile was as l - 4 or 1-5 : 100, 

 whereas hsematin contains 9 per cent, of Fe. It would therefore 

 appear that, in the formation of bilirubin, there is a retention of 

 iron in the liver, a fact which stands in close relation to the organic 

 compounds of iron which Zaleski 4 shewed to be present in the liver. 

 This subject will be further considered in Chapter V. 



1 P. A. Young, M.D., 'On the relation which exists between the iron contained in 

 the bile and the colouring matter of the blood. ' Journal of Anatomy and Physiology, 

 Vol. v. pp. 158164; A. Gamgee, M.D., 'Note on Dr Young's paper.' Ibid. Vol. v. 

 p. 165. 



2 Hoppe-Seyler, Analyses first published in his Physiologische Chemie, 2 er Theil 

 Berlin, 1878, pp. 301 and 305. 



3 Kunkel, 'Eisen- und Farbstoffausscheidung in der Galle.' Pfliiger's Archiv, 

 Vol. xiv. (1877), p. 360. 



4 Zaleski, ' Studien iiber die Leber. I. Eisengehalt derLeber.' Zeitschrift f. physiol. 

 Chemie t Vol. x. (1886), p. 453502. 



