CHAP. XXV.] USE OF THE BILE. 263 



matters, or the too rapid formation of them, is the deposition of fat 

 in various parts of the body, sometimes to the augmentation of its 

 bulk by an increased development of the adipose tissue, at others, 

 to the production of various abnormal deposits, containing more 

 or less fat, as atheroma. 



In conclusion, the following propositions will serve to exhibit at 

 a glance all that we may, in the present state of our knowledge, 

 affirm respecting the function of the liver : 



1. That it secretes a highly complex fluid, which is poured into 

 the intestinal canal, and there undergoes decomposition. Its colour- 

 ing-matter (cholephyrrhin, or biliverdin) is carried off in the excre- 

 ments, and may possibly assist in stimulating the action of the 

 intestine. Its fat is in great part, at least, absorbed by the villi. 

 So much of its fat as is not thus acted upon contributes to form 

 the fa3ces. Its salts, also, are probably carried off in the faeces. 

 Other of its elements contribute to the digestive process, by pro- 

 moting the solution in the bowels of some kinds of food which 

 have escaped the solvent action of the gastric fluid. What these 

 elements are, and what kinds of food they serve to dissolve, we 

 have yet accurately to determine ; it seems certain, however, that 

 it exercises no solvent power over fatty or oily matters, and pro- 

 bable, that it acts upon azotised matters. 



2. The liver forms sugar and fat by chemical processes in its 

 circulation, independently of any direct or immediate supplies of 

 these substances in the aliments. 



3. The liver is a great emunctory ; it eliminates carbonaceous 

 matters, some directly, as the colouring-matter of the bile, which 

 is at once thrown out in the faeces; others indirectly, as fat 

 and sugar, which, passing to other parts of the circulation, are 

 more or less acted on by oxygen and eliminated as carbonic acid 

 and water. 



4. The liver contributes largely to the maintenance of general 

 nutrition ; first, by aiding in the solution of certain aliments in 

 the intestinal canal, and, secondly by furnishing food to the 

 calorifacient process. 



Before we leave this subject, we must refer to the remarkable 

 observations of Weber, confirmed by Kolliker, respecting the 

 extensive generation of blood- corpuscles in the liver of the embryo^ 

 which have led the former physiologist to form the opinion that 

 " not only is the liver an organ for secreting bile, but that in it a 

 material is separated and accumulated from the blood, out of which 

 blood-corpuscles are formed, which are taken off by the blood- 



