FORMATION OF BILE CONSTITUENTS. 561 



both, in bile the proportion of this salt is not nearly so high as in 

 plasma. This may possibly be explained by the withdrawal of hydro- 

 chloric acid in the stomach, leaving the soda to be combined with the 

 organic acids of the bile. 



A study of the excretion of chlorine in the bile has been made by 

 Dagnini in Albertoni's laboratory. 1 He finds that in dogs with a 

 permanent fistula the percentage of chlorine varies little, and that it 

 is only slightly raised by the administration of chloride of sodium, or 

 of potassium. Chlorides, as is well known, are chiefly excreted by 

 the kidney. 



Giovanni Pirri 2 has studied the secretion of sodium and potassium, 

 and finds that, while the amount of sodium excreted per diem is very 

 constant in spite of variations in diet, and in spite of the administration 

 of chloride of sodium, the excretion of potassium varies within wide 

 limits, and is increased by giving sodium and potassium chloride in the 

 food. The sodium is in great measure combined with the organic 

 acids of the bile, and hence these results do not throw light upon the 

 excretion of sodium in inorganic compounds. 



On the secretion of lime salts, work has been done under Naunyn's 

 direction by Jankau. He shows that the amount of lime in bile is very 

 small, and that it is not increased by the administration of lime salts. 3 

 From the fact that lime salts are present in the secretions from mucous 

 membranes, Naunyn suggests that the lime of the bile may be formed in 

 the bile passages. 



The very small quantity of iron which exists in the bile (less than 

 1 mgr. per diem in the dog) 4 may be derived from the iron stored in the 

 liver cells, or may be formed from the disintegration of the epithelial 

 lining of the passages. Evidence on the subject is wanting. 



How far the other inorganic salts are secreted by the liver cells, 

 and how far by the cells lining the bile passages, cannot be considered 

 as established. There is clear evidence to show that they are, in part 

 at any rate, formed in the latter situation. In a series of analyses of 

 bile, collected from a woman with a complete biliary fistula, it was found 

 that during attacks of fever the true biliary constituents, the organic 

 salts and pigments, were markedly diminished, while the proportion of 

 inorganic salts remained unaltered, between 07 and 0'8 per cent. 5 



Birch and Spong's analysis of the fluid from the gall bladder showed 

 the presence of 0-826 per cent, of inorganic salts, of which the chief was 

 chloride of sodium. Mayo Eobson found 0'84 per cent, of inorganic 

 matter. Analysis of freshly secreted human bile gives about the same 

 proportion of salts. 6 Hence, since the amount of salts is the same in 

 the small amount of fluid secreted from the bile passages, and in the 

 total amount of bile poured out from bile passages and liver cells 

 together, about the same proportion of salts must exist in the secretion 

 from each. 



Nucleo-proteid. The mucus-like nucleo-proteid of bile is formed in 

 the bile passages and gall bladder. The amount in bile is small, about 

 0'2 per cent. 



1 Mem. r. Accad. d. sc. d. 1st. di Bologna, 1893, Ser. 5, vol. i. p. 3. 

 * Ibid., 1893. 



3 Naunyn, "Cholelithiasis," translated by A. E. Garrod, New. Syd. Soc., p. 15. 



4 Ansel m, Arb. d. pharmakol. Inst. zu Dorpat, Stuttgart, 1892, Bd. vii. 

 3 Rep. Lab. Roy. Coll. Phys., Edin., vol. iv. p. 44. 



Hoppe-Seyler, " Physiol. Chem.," S. 302. 

 VOL. I. 36 



