PARTS OF ANIMALS, IV. ii. 



bile elsewhere in the body is a residue or colliques- 

 cence, so this bile around the liver is a residue 

 and serves no purpose — like the sediment pro- 

 duced in the stomach and the intestines. I agree 

 that occasionally Nature turns even residues to 

 use and advantage, but that is no reason for trying 

 to discover a purpose in all of them. The truth is 

 that some constituents are present for a definite 

 purpose, and then many others are present of 

 necessity in consequence of these. 



We may say, then, that in animals whose liver is 

 healthy in its composition, and in which the blood 

 that supplies the liver is svv'eet, there is either no 

 gall-bladder at all by the liver, or else the bile is in 

 tiny vessels, or else in some these are present and in 

 some not. This is why the livers of gall-bladderless 

 animals are, generally, of a good colour and sweet ; 

 and in those that have a gall-bladder the part of the 

 liver immediately below it is very sweet. But in those 

 animals which are formed out of blood which is less 

 pure, the bile is the residue of this ; since " residue " 

 means that which is the opposite of " food," and 

 " bitter " the opposite of " sweet "; and healthy blood 

 is sweet. So it is evident that bile exists for no de- 

 finite purpose, but is merely an offscouring. So that 

 Mas an extremely neat remark which we find made 

 by some of the old authors, when they say that if you 

 have no gall in you your life will be longer. This 

 was a reference to animals with uncloven hoofs and 

 to deer, which have no gall-bladder, and are long- 

 lived. And also, certain other animals are long-lived, 

 such as the dolphin and camel, which, though un- 

 observed by them, have no gall-bladder. After all, 

 the liver is vital and indispensable for all blooded 



^ 309 



