416 THE LIVER. 



circulation, an accumulation of the bile constituents is to be expected 

 in the blood and tissues. If the bile constituents, on the contrary, are 

 formed exclusively in the liver, then the above operation naturally would 

 give no such result. If the ductus choledochus is tied, then the bile 

 constituents will be collected in the blood or tissues whether they are 

 formed in the liver or elsewhere. 



From these principles KOBNER has tried to demonstrate by exper- 

 iments on frogs that the bile-acids are produced exclusively in the liver. 

 While he was unable to detect any bile-acids in the blood and tissues of 

 these animals after extirpation of the liver, he was able to discover them 

 on tying the ductus choledochus. The investigations of LUDWIG and 

 FLEISCHL 1 show that in the dog the bile-acids originate in the liver alone. 

 After tying the ductus choledochus they observed that the bile constituents 

 were absorbed by the lymphatic vessels of the liver and passed into the 

 blood through the thoracic duct. Bile-acids could be detected in the 

 blood after such an operation, while they could not be detected in the 

 normal blood. But when the common bile and thoracic ducts were both 

 tied at the same time, then not the least trace of bile-acids could be 

 detected in the blood, while if they are also formed in other organs and 

 tissues they should have been present. 



From earlier reports of CLOEZ and VULPIAN, as well as VIRCHOW, the bile- 

 acids also occur in the suprarenal capsule. These claims have not been con- 

 firmed by later investigations of STADELMANN and BEiER. 2 At the present time 

 there is no ground for supposing that the bile-acids are formed elsewhere than 

 in the liver. 



It has been indubitably proven that the bile-pigments may be formed 

 in other organs besides the liver, for, as is generally admitted, the color- 

 ing-matter haBmatoidin, which occurs in old blood extravasations, is 

 identical with the bile-pigment bilirubin (see page 290). LATSCHEN- 

 BERGER 3 also observed in horses, under pathological conditions, a 

 formation of bile-pigments from the blood-coloring matters in the tissues. 

 The occurrence of bile-pigments in the placenta also seems to depend 

 on their formation in that organ, while the occurrence of small quantities 

 of bile-pigments in the blood-serum of certain animals probably depends 

 on an absorption of these substances. 



Although the bile-pigments may be formed in other organs besides 

 the liver, still it is of first importance to know what bearing this organ 

 has on the elimination and formation of bile-pigments. In this regard 



1 Kobner, see Heidenhain, Physiologie der Absonderungsvorgange, in Hermann's 

 Handbuch, 5; Fleischl, Arbeiten aus der physiol. Anstalt zu Leipzig, Jahrgang 9. 



2 Zeitschr. f. physiol. Chem., 18, in which the older literature may be found. 



3 See Maly's Jahresber., 16, and Monatshefte f. Chem., 9. 



