158 PHYSIOLOGICAL CHEMISTRY. 



The bile of the gall-bladder is, as above stated, richer in solids 

 than the bile of the liver. Human bile obtained by means of a 

 fistula contained 22.4-22.8 p. m. solids, according to JACOBSEN, 

 who determined the mineral substances in the same bile and 

 found the following, calculated from the dry residue: KC1 12.85, 

 NaCl 245.1, Na 3 P0 4 59.8, Ca 3 (P0 4 ) 2 16.7, and Na 2 C0 3 41.8 p. m. 



The relationship between the amounts of glycocholates and 

 taurocholates in the human bile seems to be quite variable. 

 According to the analyses and observations of the majority of in- 

 vestigators, the human bile is, in most cases, relatively richer in 

 glycocholic acid and correspondingly poor in taurocholic acid. 



In animals the relative proportion of the two acids varies very 

 much. It has been found, on determining the amount of sulphur, 

 that, so far as the experiments have gone, taurocholic acid is the 

 prevailing acid in carnivorous mammalia, birds, snakes, and fishes. 

 Among the herbivora sheep and goats have a predominance of 

 taurocholic acid in the bile. Ox-bile sometimes contains tauro- 

 cholic acid in excess, in other cases glycocholic acid predominates, 

 and in a few cases the latter occurs almost alone. The bile of the 

 rabbit, hare, and kangaroo contains, like the bile of the pig, almost 

 exclusively glycocholic acid. A distinct influence on the relative 

 amounts of the two bile-acids by different foods has not been de- 

 tected. HITTER claims to have found a decrease in the quantity 

 of taurocholic acid in calves when they pass from the milk to 

 the plant diet. 



The gases of the bile consist of a large quantity of carbon 

 dioxide, which increases with the amount of alkalies, only traces of 

 oxygen, and a very small quantity of nitrogen. 



. Little is known in regard to the properties of the bile in disease. The quan- 

 tity of urea is found to be considerably increased in uraemia. Leucin and 

 tyrosin are observed in acute yellow atrophy of the liver and in typhus. 

 Traces of albumin (without regard to nucleoalbumin) have several times 

 been found in the human bile. The so-called pigmentary acholia, or the 

 secretion of a bile containing bile-acids but no bile-pigments, has also been 

 repeatedly noticed. In all such cases observed by HITTER he found a 

 fatty degeneration of the liver-cells, in return for which, even in excessive 

 fat infiltration, a normal bile containing pigments was secreted. The secre- 

 tion of a bile nearly free from bile-acids has been observed by HOPPE-SEYLER 

 in amylaceous degeneration of the liver, and also by K. MORNER. A number 

 of substances, such as turpentine, salicylic acid, potassium bromide and 

 iodide, arsenic, iron, lead, and mercury (PREVOST and BINET), are eliminated 

 by the bile. In animals, dogs, and especially rabbits it has been observed 



