502 BILE. 



the blood for the support of the liver; and, finally, 

 the delicate veins, which conduct the blood, already 

 employed in the preparation of the bile, into the hepa- 

 tic veins, from which it is conveyed back to the 

 lungs through the vena cava, and right auricle of the 

 heart. 



The finest biliary ducts convey the secreted bile into 

 branches, which grow larger and larger, and finally 

 unite, forming a single canal, the hepatic duct. This 

 conducts the bile during digestion into the duodenum, 

 or at other times through a particular duct into the 

 gall-bladder, in which it remains collected until diges- 

 tion commences. 



When freshly chopped liver is extracted with water, 

 there is obtained a solution of albumen, which coagu- 

 lates by heating. This solution further contains 

 glycogen (p. 206), urea, and the other ordinary constitu- 

 ents of animal fluids. During life the liver contains 

 no sugar. This is, however, rapidly formed after death 

 from the glycogen. 



Bile is a mucous, yellowish-green, bitter tasting and 

 disagreeably smelling liquid, differing however in 

 color and odor in different classes of animals. It gen- 

 erally reacts slightly alkaline, never acid. It contains 

 between 10 and 14 per cent, solid ingredients, dissolved 

 in water. 



Bile contains, as characteristic, principal ingredients, 

 the potassium or sodium salts of glycocholic and tauro- 

 cholic acids (p. 479). In ox-bile both acids are con- 

 tained in nearly equal quantity ; in human bile, princi- 

 pally taurocholic and but little glycocholic acid ; in 

 the bile of the dog and several other animals, almost 

 exclusively taurocholic acid. In the bile of mammalia 

 these acids are contained as the sodium salts ; in the 

 bile of fishes, especially sea fish, however, the potassium 

 salts also occur. 



Bile contains besides, in smaller quantity, cholesterin 

 (p. 480), mucus, and coloring matters (p. 481). These 

 probably result from the coloring matter of the blood, 

 haemoglobin ; are formed in larger quantity in certain 

 diseases, particularly in icterus ; and then occur widely 



