THE BILE. 



3 2 9 



Biliary acids combined ) 

 with alkalies } 



Fat 



Cholesterin ... 

 Mucus and colouring matters 

 Salts 



91-5 



140-8 



The Bilin or Uliary matter described by Berzelius, when 

 freed by ether from the fat with which it is combined, is a 

 resinoid substance, soluble in water, alcohol, and alkaline 

 solutions, and giving to the watery solution the taste and 

 general character of bile. It appears to be not the single 

 substance it was once supposed to be, but a compound of 

 soda combined with one or both of two resinous acids, 

 named by Lehmann, glycocholic and taurocholic, because 

 the former consists, he believes, of cholic acid conjugated 

 with glycin (or sugar of gelatin), the latter of the same 

 acid conjugated with taurin. 



Fatty substances are found in variable proportions, such 

 as olein and margarin, or Fig. 89.* 



their acids, oleic and mar- 

 garic, and stearic acids, com- 

 bined with potash and soda. 

 Besides, there is a small quan- 

 tity of cholesterin (see p. 19), 

 which, with the other free 

 fats, is probably held in 

 solution by the tauro-chlorate 

 of soda. 



The colouring matter of the 

 bile has not yet been obtained 

 pure, owing to the facility with which it is decomposed. 

 It occasionally deposits itself in the gall-bladder as a yel- 

 low substance mixed with mucus, and in this state has 

 been frequently examined. It is composed of two colour- 



). Crystalline scales of cholesterin. 



