es 



deal with it ; but CABET gave us the first tolera-> 

 l>ly accurate analysis on the subject, and some 

 years after him VAN BOCHAUT also engaged in 

 the investigation. Those who have since la- 

 boured in this field are MACLURG, FOURCROY, 

 POWELL, and very lately THENARH. The old 

 experimenters all agreed in considering the bile 

 as a kind of soap, composed of caustic soda, and 

 a peculiar green bitter resin, which could be pre- 

 cipitated by acids, and supposing that the sapo- 

 naceous substance was mixed with the bile in a 

 certain proportion. It was also considered as con- 

 taining a portion of albumen, which could be 

 separated by alcohol ; THENARD, however, 

 shewed that the bile contained, besides this resin, 

 a peculiar bitter-sweet matter, in form of an ex- 

 tract, to which, from its taste, he gave the name 

 picromel, and which, together with the alkali, 

 contributed to hold the resin dissolved. Some 

 circumstances in THENARD'S experiments, 

 which appeared rather improbable, made me 

 also undertake an analysis of the bile, the result 

 of which was the discovery, that none of my pre- 

 decessors had properly ascertained the composi- 

 tion of it : I found that it contains no resin what- 

 ever; that it has the same proportion of alkali 

 and salts as the blood ; and that it contains a pe- 



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