BILE. 



375 



ties of albumen ; yet neither solution of corro- 

 sive sublimate, nor of ferrocyanate of potassa, 

 which are such delicate tests of that proximate 

 animal principle in other cases, enables us to 

 detect it in the original bile. W hen alcohol is 

 added to bile which has been evaporated nearly 

 to dryness, it acquires, when filtered off, a 

 brownish green colour and bitter taste ; when 

 evaporated, it leaves a residue which is almost 

 totally soluble in water; and in this aqueous 

 solution, dilute sulphuric acid slowly throws 

 down a grey substance, which appears to be a 

 compound of the acid and the bitter principle 

 of the bile; when it has been washed with 

 water (in which it is not soluble), it dissolves 

 in alcohol, and if the sulphuric acid be then 

 separated from it by carbonate of baryta and 

 filtration, the filtered solution leaves on evapo- 

 ration a green, transparent, bitter residue, 

 which appears to be the characteristic princi- 

 ple of the bile, and which Berzelius calls Gal- 

 lenstoff. As thus obtained, it is not quite free 

 from foreign matters, and ether digested upon 

 it takes up a little fatty matter ; indeed when 

 bile, concentrated by evaporation, is agitated 

 with ether, and the latter, after having separated 

 upon the surface, is poured oft' and evaporated, 

 it always leaves traces of a fatty substance, 

 probably identical with ckolesterine. The pu- 

 rified bitter residue, to which we have just 

 adverted, is apparently tine picromel of Thenard ; 

 it has a bitter, pungent, and sweetish taste, is 

 inflammable, deliquescent, soluble in water 

 and alcohol, but insoluble in ether ; its solu- 

 tion is precipitated by many acids, (not by 

 acetic or phosphoric,) and the precipitate is 

 nearly insoluble in water, of a greenish colour, 

 resinous appearance, and fusible at 212. This 

 precipitate (consisting of picromel combined 

 with the acid used to throw it down) dissolves 

 in alcohol, and is again thrown down by water : 

 it dissolves in solution of acetate of potash, the 

 alcali of which combines with the acid of the 

 precipitate, whilst the acetic acid unites to the 

 picromel to form a soluble acetate. Picromel 

 dissolves in weak alcaline solutions apparently 

 without decomposition. 



It will be seen from many of the above cha- 

 racters, that picromel (by which we mean Ber- 

 zelius's GaUemtoff) has probably been mistaken 

 for albumen, and that it is not improbable that 

 the only true albuminous part of the bile may 

 be in that equivocal state which is often called 

 mucus, and which is especially distinguished 

 by being precipitable by acetic acid. Berze- 

 lius has suggested an analogy between picromel 

 and the peculiar saccharine matter which is 

 contained in liquorice-root; and in many re- 

 spects their chemical properties are identical. 



In the preceding statement, drawn princi- 

 pally from Berzelius, we have endeavoured to 

 give the simplest view of the analysis of the 

 bile ; namely, the separation of its muco-albu- 

 iitcn by acetic acid or alcohol, and of its jiicromel, 

 by precipitation with acids and subsequent 

 decomposition of the precipitate by carbonated 

 baryte or alcali ; its saline contents appear 

 closely to resemble those of the serum of the 

 blood ; like which it has an alcaline reaction, 



due to soda. We have also selected such ex- 

 periments, as, with us, have invariably suc- 

 ceeded : the following results, therefore, of the 

 analysis of the bile, as given by Berzelius, will 

 now be intelligible. 



Water 90.44 



Picromel, (Gallenstofi ,) inclu- 

 ding fat , . 8.00 



Mucus of the gall-bladder .. 0.30 

 Extractive, common salt, and 



lactate of soda 0.74 



Soda 0.41 



Phosphate of soda and lime and 

 traces of a substance insolu- 

 ble in alcohol 0.1 1 



100. 



_ JTr , 4 



The details of the other analyses of the bile 

 as given by the authorities to which we have 

 referred above, would be unintelligible if 

 abridged, and are too voluminous, and too ex- 

 clusively chemical, to be inserted here; and 

 moreover, we have generally failed in arriving 

 at satisfactory conclusions in our endeavours at 

 a repetition of the various analytical operations 

 which are described; we must therefore rest 

 satisfied with giving, in a condensed form ? a 

 general statement of their results. According 

 to Thenard, human bile contains, water 90.90 ; 

 yellow bitter resin 3.73; yellow matter gene- 

 rally diffused through the bile (mucus and colour- 

 ing matter?) 0.18 to 0.90; albumen 3.82 ; soda, 

 by which the resin is dissolved, 0.51 ; phos- 

 phate, sulphate, and muriate of soda, phosphate 

 of lime, and oxide of iron, 0.41. Tiedemann 

 and Gmelin give the following as the compo- 

 nents of human bile: 1. fat; 2. brown resin ; 

 3. sweet principle of bile; 4. salivary matter; 

 5. mucus; 6. gall-brown (colouring matter?); 

 7. oleic acid, salts, and minute quantities of 

 other substances. Frommherz and '\Jugert* have 

 arrived at yet more complicated results : namely, 

 1. fat ; 2. resin ; 3. sweet principle; 4. osma- 

 zome; 5. salivary matter (Speichelstoff); 6. ca- 

 seum ; 7. mucus ; 8. margaric and other fatty 

 acids, with phosphate, muriate, and sulphate of 

 soda and potash ; and carbonate, phosphate, 

 and sulphate of lime. The above, and other 

 chemists, have published analyses of bile, taken 

 after death in various diseases, but they present 

 nothing very important. Tiedemann and Gme- 

 lin's elaborate analysis of ox-gall deserves the 

 perusal of all chemists concerned in such in- 

 quiries : it contains, according to L. Gmelin,f 

 a substance not to be found in any other bile, 

 and which he has called raurin or Gallenaspa- 

 ragin : it may be obtained as follows : add 

 muriatic acid to ox-gall and filter ; after a few 

 days a fatty matter appears, which is separated 

 by filtration; the filtered liquid is evaporated 

 to a small bulk, when it separates into two 

 parts, a resinous mass and a sour fluid : the 

 latter, upon further evaporation, yields more 

 resinous matter, and at length crystals of com- 



* M. Schweigger's Journal, vol. 1. p. 8. 

 f L. Gmelin, Handbuch dcr Thcjrctischcn Cbc- 

 mic, ii. 1012. Frankfurt, 1829. 



