HAP. XXV.] THE BILE. 253 



there are many of the herbivora in which it is present, as in the 

 ox, the sheep, the goat, etc. In the first giraffe examined in this 

 country by Professor Owen, there was no gall-bladder; in the 

 second, two were found.* 



Quantity of Bile secreted. Various attempts have been made to 

 estimate the quantity of bile secreted by the liver in a given time ; 

 but, in truth, we have no satisfactory knowledge on this point. 

 Blondlot, by the experiment upon a dog detailed above, was able 

 to collect the bile that flowed out at the external orifice, which 

 must have been all that was secreted. The quantity thus obtained 

 from one of his dogs amounted in twenty-four hours, on the average, 

 to twelve drams and a half. Assuming, then, with Haller, that 

 the liver of a man secretes four or five times as much bile as that 

 of a dog, we may conclude, that the average quantity poured into 

 the human intestine in twenty-four hours is from six to eight 

 ounces. Haller, himself, however, had formed a much larger 

 estimate than this, namely, seventeen to twenty-four ounces. 



The Physical and Chemical Properties of Bile. The bile is a 

 thick, ropy fluid, of a greenish-yellow colour, a bitter taste, and a 

 peculiar nauseous smell, with a specific gravity of 1026 to 1030. 

 It has an antiseptic power, and not only itself resists putrefac- 

 tion for a considerable period, but prevents substances with which it 

 mixes from putrefying. The excessive fcetor of the faeces in some 

 cases of jaundice from complete obstruction, and, perhaps, also in 

 cholera, is probably due to the absence of the antiseptic influence 

 of the bile. The reaction of the bile, according to Gorup-Besanez, is 

 when first secreted neutral; but subsequently it becomes slightly acid, 

 and ultimately alkaline. The well-known cleansing properties of ox- 

 gall are due to the presence of alkali in it in considerable quantity. 



According to the analysis of Berzelius, which seems to be the 

 most trustworthy, and with which that recently made by Mulderf 

 accords very closely, bile consists of water holding mucus in suspen- 

 sion, and in solution certain salts, with a peculiar complex substance 

 called by Berzelius Bilin, also fat, and a special colouring matter. 

 The following is Berzelius' s table of the analysis of ox-gall : f 



Water 904-4 



Bilin (with fat and colouring matter) . . 80'0 



Mucus 03'0 



Salts 12-6 



1000-0 



* Art. " Liver," Cyclop. Anat. and Phys. 



t Untersuchungen iiber die Galle, etc. Frankfort. 1847. 



