204 CONSTITUTION OF BILE. 



It was expected that in this blood, bile pigment and cholic acid would 

 be found if the original formation of those substances took place exter- 

 nally to the liver. Such did not prove to be the case. It may, however, 

 be justly inferred that no reliable conclusion can be drawn after opera- 

 tions of such magnitude and severity. 



The alleged inability to detect the constituents of the bile in the blood 

 Cause of this of the portal vein is probably due to the defects of our ana- 

 Scting'biie in~ ty^ processes, for it is very clear from the circumstance 

 the blood. that the bile which is poured into the intestine must be reab- 

 sorbed, with the exception of its coloring material, either by the lacteals 

 or the veins, or by both, since it is not found in the excrement. Through 

 whichever of these channels it passes, it must therefore regain the gen- 

 eral circulation, for it can not be supposed that in the short period of its 

 course it could have undergone complete metamorphosis. 



We may therefore assume that the proximate ingredients of bile pre- 

 exist in the blood, and this conclusion is enforced by the fact that, after 

 tying the vena porta, bile, though in a diminished quantity, is still se- 

 creted. The same also occurs in those cases of malformation in which 

 that vessel, instead of ramifying into the liver, empties directly into the 

 vena cava. When there is any failure or delay in the removal of bile 

 from the system, the effects are such as might even be predicted, nervous 

 disturbance ensuing, and eventually all- the symptoms of poisoning. The 

 circumstance that this last effect often takes place suddenly, has been by 

 some supposed to be dependent on the necessity for the bile to accumu- 

 late, to a certain extent, but it is much more likely that it is determined 

 by the metamorphosis of the decomposing bile having reached a certain 

 point, when special poisonous products have spontaneously arisen from it. 



Bile, from whatever animal it may have been derived, contains a resin- 

 Constitution of ous soda salt, a coloring material, cholesterine, and mucus, 

 bile. rj^g ac - ( j Q t j ie g0( ^ a ga | t - g fa Q taurocholic or glycocho- 



lic. The coloring matter in carnivorous and omnivorous animals is 

 brown, the cholepyrrhin of Berzelius ; but in birds, fishes, and amphibia, 

 it is green, biliverdin. Strecker makes the curious remark respecting the 

 bile of fishes, that in those which are of salt water, potash salts predom- 

 inate ; and in those of fresh water, soda salts. Among the ultimate ele- 

 ments occurring in the bile, and being of special interest, may be men- 

 Constitution of tioned sulphur, which exists in taurine, of which the com- 

 taurine. position is C 4 , H 7 , N, S 2 , O 6 . It may be obtained from ox- 



gall ; it has likewise been made artificially by Strecker from the isethi- 

 onate of ammonia. It is distinguished by evolving sulphurous acid 

 when burnt in the open air. It does not exist in the bile in an insu- 

 lated condition, but probably as an adjunct to cholic acid, and has been 

 found in that secretion of both hot and cold-blooded animals. It has, 



