440 RESORPTION OF BILE. [BOOK n. 



when in the living body the bile duct is ligatured, or becomes 

 obstructed by gallstones or otherwise, fluid is accumulated on the 

 near side of the ligature at a pressure which goes on increasing 

 until resorption of bile takes place, bile salts and biliary pigments 

 are thrown back upon the system, and "jaundice" results. It 

 would appear |)hat in these cases resorption takes place through 

 the interlobular bile ducts and not through the hepatic cells or 

 other structures within the lobules. The high pressure in the 

 ducts does not lead to a reversal of the current in the hepatic 

 cells (at most it slackens or possibly stops the current) but the 

 bile secreted into the interlobular ducts escapes from these. It 

 further appears that the escape is not into the blood vessels 

 but into the lymphatics ; the bile salts, pigments and other 

 constituents are carried into the thoracic duct, and in an indirect 

 manner only find their way into the blood stream. 



To complete the history of the secretion of bile we ought now 

 to turn to the manufacture of the biliary constituents within the 

 cells. But since the hepatic cells are also engaged in labours 

 other and more important perhaps than that of secreting bile, it 

 will be convenient to defer what we have to say on this point until 

 we come to speak of the formation of glycogen and of the general 

 metabolic events taking place in the liver. 



