COMPOSITION OF HUMAN BILE. 413 



sulphuric-acid-like combination (HAMMARSTEN, OERUM, BRAND). The 

 quantity of such sulphur may even amount to -J of the total sulphur. 

 We do not know the nature of these ethereal sulphuric acids. According 

 to OERUM 1 they are not precipitated by lead acetate, but are precipitated 

 by basic lead acetate, especially with ammonia. Human bile is habitually 

 richer in glycocholic than in taurocholic acid. In six cases of liver-bile 

 analyzed by HAMMARSTEN the relation of taurocholic to glycocholic 

 acid varied between 1: 2.07 and 1:14.36. The bile analyzed by JACOBSEN 

 contained no taurocholic acid. 



As an example of the composition of human liver-bile the following 

 results of three analyses made by HAMMARSTEN are given. The results 

 are calculated in parts per 1000. 2 



Solids 25.200 35.260 25.400 



Water 974.800 964.740 974.600 



Mucin and pigments 5 . 290 4 . 290 5 . 150 



Bile-salts 9.310 18.240 9.D40 



Taurocholate 3.034 2.079 2. 180 



Glycocholate 6.276 16.161 6.860 



Fatty acids from soaps 1 . 230 1 . 360 1.010 



Cholesterin 0.630 1.600 1.500 



Lecithin \ n 99n 0.574 0.650 



Fat / u '^ u 0.956 0.610 



Soluble salts 8.070 6.760 7.250 



Insoluble salts 0.250 0.490 0.210 



Among the mineral constituents the chlorine and sodium occur to 

 the greatest extent. The relation between potassium and sodium 

 varies considerably in different samples. Sulphuric acid and phosphoric 

 acid occur only in very small quantities. 



BAGINSKY and SOMMERFELD 3 found true mucin, mixed with some 

 nucleoalbumin, in the bladder-bile of children. The bile contained 

 on an average 896.5 p. m. water; 103.5 p. m. solids; 20 p. m. mucin; 

 9.1 p. m. mineral substances; 25.2 p. m. bile-salts (of which 16.3 p. m. 

 were glycocholate and 8.9 p. m. taurocholate) ; 3.4 p. m. cholesterin; 

 6.7 p. m. fat, and 2.8 p. m. leuci'ne. 4 



The quantity of pigment in human bile is, according to NOEL-PATON, 

 0.4-1.3 p. m. (in a case of biliary fistula). The method used in deter- 

 mining the pigments in this case was not quite trustworthy. More 

 exact results obtained by spectrophotometric methods are on record 

 for dog-bile. According to STADELMANN 5 dog-bile contains on an average 



1 Skand. Archiv. f. Physiol., 16. 



2 Recent quantitative analyses may be found in Brand, I.e.; v. Zeynek, Wien. 

 klin. Wochenschr., 1899; Bonanni, 1. c. 



3 Verhandl. d. physiol. Gesellsch. zu Berlin, 1894-95. 



4 Analyses of bile from children may be found in Heptner, Maly's Jahresber., 30. 



5 Noel-Paton, Rep. Lab. Roy. Soc. Coll. Phys. Edinburgh, 3; Stadelmann, Der 

 Icterus. 



