144 PHYSIOLOGICAL CHEMISTRY. 



regard to the time necessary after partaking of food before the 

 secretion reaches its maximum. Formerly it was held that the secre- 

 tion of bile is increased by food rich in albumin ; in later investi- 

 gations, by ROSENBERG, it was found, on the contrary, that the fats 

 give a greater stimulus to the secretion of bile than do the other 

 nutritive substances. The drinking of water increases the secretion 

 of bile. The statements of different investigators vary so much in 

 regard to the action of different medicinal bodies in the secretion of 

 bile that it is impossible to reach any conclusion on the subject. 

 All investigators who have worked on this subject seem to agree 

 that sodium salicylate is a true cathartic (RUTHERFORD, VIGNAL, 

 LEWASCHEW, PREVOST and BINET, ROSENBERG). Also turpentine, 

 which is a component of the so-called DURAND'S remedy, seems to 

 increase the secretion (LEWASCHEW, PREVOST and BINET, ROSEN- 

 BERG). Olive-oil is a very active cathartic (ROSENBERG). By the 

 increased secretion of bile the amount of solids does not, as a rule, 

 increase at the same rate as the water, and the concentration of the 

 bile decreases. An exception to this is found only in the influence 

 exerted by the bile itself, acting as it does as a powerful cathartic 

 by which also the concentration of the secreted bile is increased. 



The bile is a mixture of the secretion of the liver-cells and the 

 so-called mucus which is secreted by the glands of the biliary 

 passages and by the mucous membrane of the gall-bladder. The 

 secretion of the liver, which is generally poorer in solids than the 

 bile from the gall-bladder, is thin and clear, while the bile collected 

 in the gall-bladder is more ropy and viscous on account of the ab- 

 sorption of water and the admixture of " mucus," and cloudy 

 because of the admixture of cells, pigments, and the like. The 

 specific gravity of the bile from the gall-bladder varies consider- 

 ably, in man between 1.010 and 1.040. Its reaction is alkaline. 

 The color changes in different animals: golden yellow, yellowish 

 brown, olive-brown, brownish green, grass-green, or bluish green. 

 Bile obtained from an executed person immediately after death 

 is golden yellow or yellow with a shade of brown. Still cases occur 

 in which fresh human bile has a green color. The ordinary 

 post-mortem bile has a variable color. The bile of certain animals 

 has a peculiar odor; as example, ox-bile has an odor of musk, espe- 

 cially on warming. The taste of bile is also different in different 



