188 THE BILE. 



VARIATIONS AND FUNCTIONS OF BILE. With regard to the 

 entire quantity of bile secreted daily, we have had no very positive 

 knowledge, until the experiments of Bidder and Schmidt, published 

 in 1852. 1 These experiments were performed on cats, dogs, sheep, 

 and rabbits, in the following manner. The abdomen was opened, 

 and a ligature placed upon the ductus communis choledochus, so 

 as to prevent the bile finding its way into the intestine. An open- 

 ing was then made in the fundus of the gall-bladder, by which 

 the bile was discharged externally. The bile, so discharged, was 

 received into previously weighed vessels, and its quantity accurately 

 determined. Each observation usually occupied about two hours, 

 during which period the temporary fluctuations occasionally observ- 

 able in the quantity of bile discharged were mutually corrected, so 

 far as the entire result was concerned. The animal was then killed, 

 weighed, and carefully examined, in order to make sure that the 

 biliary duct had been securely tied, and that no inflammatory alter- 

 ation had taken place in the abdominal organs. The observations 

 were made at very different periods after the last meal, so as to 

 determine the influence exerted by the digestive process upon the 

 rapidity of the secretion. The average quantity of bile for twenty- 

 four hours was then calculated from a comparison of the above 

 results ; and the quantity of its solid ingredients was also ascer- 

 tained in each instance by evaporating a portion of the bile in the 

 water bath, and weighing the dry residue. 



Bidder and Schmidt found in this way that the daily quantity 

 of bile varied considerably in different species of animals. It was 

 very much greater in the herbivorous animals used for experiment 

 than in the carnivora. The results obtained by these observers 

 are as follows : 



For every pound weight of the entire body there is secreted 

 during twenty -four hours 



FRESH BILE. DRY RESIDUE. 



In the cat 102 grains. 5. 712 grains. 



"dog 140 " 6.916 " 



" sheep . . . . . . 178 " 9.408 " 



" rabbit . . ... . . 958 " 17.290 " 



Since, in the human subject, the digestive processes and the 

 nutritive actions generally resemble those of the carnivora, rather 

 than those of the herbivora, it is probable that the daily quantity 

 of 'bile in man is very similar to that in the carnivorous animals. 



1 Verdaungssaefte und Stoffwechsel. Leipzig, 1852. 



