414 THE LIVER. 



0.6-0.7 p. m. bilirubin. At the most only 7 milligrams of pigment are 

 secreted per kilo of body in the twenty-four hours. 



In animals the relative proportion of the two acids varies con- 

 siderably. It has been found, on determining the amount of sulphur, 

 that, so far as the experiments have gone, taurocholic acid is the 

 prevailing acid in carnivorous mammals, birds, snakes, and fishes. 

 Among the herbivora, sheep and goats have a predominance of tauro- 

 cholic acid in the bile. Ox-bile sometimes contains taurocholic acid 

 in excess, in other cases glycocholic acid predominates, and in a few 

 cases the latter occurs almost alone. The bile of the rabbit, hare, kan- 

 garoo, hippopotamus, and orang-utang (HAMMARSTEN l ) contains, like 

 the bile of the pig, almost exclusively glycocholic acid. A distinct 

 influence on the relative amounts of the two bile-acids exerted by dif- 

 ferences in diet has not been detected. RITTER 2 claims to have found 

 a decrease in the quantity of taurocholic acid in calves when they pass 

 from the milk to the vegetable diet. 



In the above-mentioned calculation of the taurocholic acid from the 

 quantity of sulphur in the bile-salt, it must be remarked that no exact 

 conclusion can be drawn from such a determination, since it is known 

 that other kinds of bile (e.g., human and shark bile) contain sulphur in 

 compounds other than taurocholic acid. 3 



The phosphorized constituents of bile are not well known; never- 

 theless, there is no doubt that bile contains other phosphatides besides 

 lecithin (HAMMARSTEN) . These phosphatides are in part precipitated in 

 the precipitation of the bile-salts and they in part keep the bile-salts in 

 solution, preventing their complete precipitation, and hence they have a 

 double disturbing action in the quantitative analysis of bile. Those biles 

 richest in phosphatides, so far as known, are the following, in the order of 

 their amount: Polar bear, man (in special cases), dog, black bear, orang- 

 utang. The bile of certain fishes contains but little phosphatides 

 (HAMMARSTEN 4 ) . 



The cholesterin, which, according to several investigators, originates 

 not only from the liver but also from the biliary passages, occurs in 

 larger quantities in the bladder-bile than in the liver-bile, and is present 

 to a greater extent in the non-filtered than in the filtered bile (DOYON 

 and DUFOURT 5 ) . 



The gases of the bile consist of a large quantity of carbon dioxide, 



1 Investigations not published. See Ergebnisse der Physiol., 4. 



2 Cited from Maly's Jahresber., 6, 195. 



3 Hammarsten, Zeitschr. f. physiol. Chem., 32, and Ergebnisse der Physiol., 4. 



4 Zeitschr. f. physiol. Chem., 36, and Ergebnisse der Physiol., 4. 



5 Arch, de Physiol. (5), 8. 



