THE LIVER 163 



be held to account for the great size of the organ in embryonic 

 life. What other office it fills at this period is a question 

 which still awaits an answer. 



There is no more curious chapter in medical history than the 

 story of the views held at various periods with regard to the 

 functions of the liver. From being a mere mass of " paren- 

 chyma " serving as packing for the abdominal viscera, it was 

 elevated to the rank of Grand Purifier of the " humours " of 

 the body. Next, its excessive activity became the cause of 

 that form of dyspepsia known as " biliousness." Still later 

 its want of activity was its chief vice. A " sluggish " liver 

 was held responsible for mental perversity and moral dulness. 

 Calomel, podophyllin, and other drugs were used as whips to 

 stir it up ; and the increased secretions of the alimentary canal 

 were mistaken for bile. Poor patient organ ! It is the still- 

 room of the body, in which the day's supplies are stored, and 

 from which they are served out, without haste and without 

 delay. And it makes urea. What else it does we have yet 

 to find out ; and it is not impossible that when physiologists 

 have quite shaken themselves free from the explanations 

 based upon conjecture, which their predecessors have handed 

 down, they may discover that it has other duties which are 

 not obvious, but of great importance. 



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