120 SPECIAL HISTOLOGY. 



dissolve them j in man they resist somewhat longer, but from 

 the very first swell up to about twice their size, become very 

 pale, and eventually also disappear. Ether and alcohol render 

 the cells smaller and granular, as do sulphuric and nitric 

 acids. The result of these and the above-mentioned facts is, 

 that the hepatic cells contain a considerable quantity of nitro- 

 genous substances, fat, colouring matter of the bile, and 

 perhaps also its acids. The nitrogenous compounds are of 

 several kinds : albumen, which is met with in the watery extract 

 of the liver, and a substance which is precipitated by water, 

 is readily soluble in acetic acid and resembles the casein- 

 like matter found in the serum of the blood (Pannum in 

 Virchow and Reinhard's Archiv, b. IV, 1). The existence 

 of the colouring matter of the bile in the hepatic cells is not 

 so much manifested by their reaction with nitric acid, which 

 is also exhibited by many other cells, as by their general tint, 

 and the frequent occurrence in them of precipitated colouring 

 matter of the bile. The existence of the fatty acids of the 

 bile in the hepatic cells is not directly demonstrable, since 

 both albumen and fat become red by the action of sulphuric 

 acid and sugar (Schultze), but is probable. Fat, however, 

 certainly exists in them, even when it is not microscopically 

 demonstrable, as the collective analyses of the liver show. 

 Probably, also, the sugar which recent researches have demon- 

 strated in the liver will be found to exist in the parenchyma; 

 in the cells, therefore and not in the blood only. 



As the principal mass of the liver is formed by the hepatic 

 cells, I here add the results of one of the many analyses of the 

 liver by Von Bibra {' Chem. Fragmente iiber die Leber und 

 Galle/ Braunschweig, 1849). He found, in 100 parts of 

 the substance of the liver of a young man who died 

 suddenly — 



Protein substance, insoluble in water . . . . ' 9*44 



Albumen 2 40 



Collagenous substance 3*37 



Extractive matter 6*07 



Fat , 2-50 



Water 761 7 



100-00 



