358 THE ANTISEPTIC AND LAXATIVE ACTIONS OF THE BILE. [BOOK II. 



taurocholic acid in a free condition ; as a result of the acidity of the 

 chyme, if glykocholic acid preponderates greatly ; in a free condition 

 by the action of the albumoses and peptones existing in solution, 

 if taurocholic acid be present. But leaving the chyme altogether 

 out of consideration, it is perfectly certain that the salts of the bile 

 acids must be decomposed by the intestinal contents in virtue of 

 the free acids which they invariably contain. As Nencki has pointed 

 out, the contents of the small intestine are invariably acid, in conse- 

 quence of the development of organic acids, and especially of lactic 

 acid, through the agency of micro-organisms on the sugars. It does 

 not appear to be a very bold assumption to suppose that this pre- 

 cipitation of the bile acids modifies, in an important manner, the 

 subsequent changes which the albuminous bodies undergo in the 

 intestine, under the influence of putrefactive organisms ; it is, never- 

 theless, obvious that this restraining action cooperates with and may 

 be replaced by other agents. 



In addition to its other functions, the bile is supposed to exert a 

 naturally laxative action, inasmuch as, when it is cut off from the 

 intestine, constipation is a frequent result, whilst when it is adminis- 

 tered medicinally, in the form of fel bovinum inspissatum, it exerts a 

 laxative action, or reinforces the action of drugs possessing a laxative 

 action 1 . 



1 Eefer to facts referring to this matter in Brunton's Pharmacology, Therapeutics 

 and Materia Medica. London, 1887, see p. 1082. 



