CHAP.XXXII1.] QUANTITY AND USE OF BILE. 481 



It appears that an exclusively amylaceous, or fatty diet, causes 

 a great diminution in the secretion of bile, while a pure flesh diet 

 induces a very abundant secretion. 



The presence of bile very much promotes the absorption of fatty 

 matter, although a certain quantity of fat is absorbed even if no 

 bile enters the intestine. The presence of bile causes the absorp- 

 tion of two-and-a-half times more fatty matter than would be 

 absorbed without it. Bile appears to render the mucous membrane 

 more permeable to fatty matter. 



Bidder and Schmidt consider that the chief object of the bile is 

 " to prolong the series of changes to which animal matter is sub- 

 mitted within the organism, and thus to render it for a longer 

 time efficient in the discharge of vital processes." * 



* On the Pancreas, consult article "Pancreas" in the Cyclopaedia of Anatomy 

 and Physiology, by Dr. Hyde Salter. Upon the anatomy of the Liver, the fol- 

 lowing works may be referred to : Kiernan, "The Anatomy and Physiology of 

 the Liver," Phil. Trans., 1833; Theile, Art. "Leber," im Wagner's Handworter- 

 buch der Physiologic ; Article, "Liver," by Mr. Wilson, in the Cyclopaedia of 

 Anatomy and Physiology ; Leidy, in the American Journal of the Medical 

 Sciences ; Kolliker's Mikroskopische Anatomic ; Beale, " On the Ultimate 

 Arrangement of the Biliary Ducts, and on some other Points in the Anatomy 

 of the Liver of Vertebrate Animals," Phil. Trans. 1856. 



