BIL 



BIL 



the pump : and bildge-pumps, or burr- 

 pumps, are those that carry off the bildge- 

 water. They likewise say the ship is 

 bildged, when she has some of her timbers 

 struck offon a rock or anchor, and springs 

 a leak. 



BILDSTEIR, a mineral called by Kla- 

 proth Agalmatolite, of which there are 

 two varieties. The first is semitranspa- 

 rent, its colour is olive and asparagus 

 green, passing into greenish grey ; inter- 

 nally it is shining, and has a greasy lustre : 

 its parallel fracture is obscurely slaty, its 

 cross fracture is small splintery passing 

 to compact uneven : it is translucid, soft, 

 and has a greasy feel. Specific gravity 

 2.81 : according to Klaproth it contains, 



Silex 54 



Alumina .... 36 

 Oxide of iron . . 0.75 



Water 5.50 



Loss 3.75 



100.00 



The second variety is opaque, and is of 

 a reddish white passing into flesh-red, 

 and variegated with different coloured 

 veins : it possesses little or no lustre, and 

 has a compact fracture ; it consists of 



Bildsteir comes from China, and is the 

 substance of which the little Chinese or- 

 fiarnents and figures of chimney-pieces 

 are made. 



BILE is a liquid of a yellowish-green 

 colour, an unctuous feel, bitter taste, and 

 peculiar smell, which is secreted by the 

 liver; and in most animals considerable 

 quantities of it are usually found collected 

 in the gall bladder. Great attention has 

 been paid to this liquid by physicians ; 

 because the ancients were accustomed to 

 asci-'be a very great number of diseases, 

 and even affections of the mind, to its 

 agency. The specific gravity of bile 

 seems to vary, like that of all other ani- 

 tnal ftoids. When strongly agitated, it 

 lathers like soap ; and for this reason, as 

 weH as from a medical theory concerning 

 ' it has been often called an ani- 



m:^ ;rap. !> mixes readily with water in 

 ah -portion, and assumes a yellow co- 

 lour !<ut it refuses to unite with oil 



VOL. H. 



when the two fluids are agitated together; 

 the instant that they are left at rest the 

 oil separates, and swims on the surface. 

 Bile, however, dissolves a portion of soap 

 readily, and is often employed to free 

 cloth from greasy spots. When muriatic 

 acid is poured upon bile, let it be ever so 

 fresh, an odour of sulphureted hydrogen 

 gas is constantly exhaled. When on 100 

 parts of ox bile, 4 parts of strong muriatic 

 acid are poured, the whole instantly co- 

 agulates : but in some hours the greater 

 part becomes again fluid ; and when 

 passed through the filtre, it leaves 0.26 

 of a white matter, which has all the pro- 

 perties of albumen. Thenard, by a care- 

 ful and repeated analysis of ox bile, found 

 that 800 parts of it yielded the following 

 ingredients. 



Water 700- 



Resin 43 



Saccharine matter . . 41 



Albumen 4 



Soda 4 



Muriate of soda .... 3.2 

 Sulphate of soda ... 0.8 

 Phosphate of soda . . . 2.0 

 Phosphate of lime . . . 1.2 

 Oxide of iron .... . 0.5 

 799.7 



When bile is distilled in a water-bath, 

 it affords a transparent watery liquor, 

 which contracts a pretty strong odour, 

 not unlike that of musk or amber, espe- 

 cially if the bile has been kept for some 

 days before it is submitted to distillation. 



Bile, exposed to a temperature be 

 tween 65 and 75, soon loses its colour 

 and visc;dity, acquires a nauseous smell, 

 and deposits whitish mucilaginous flakes. 

 After the putrefaction has made con- 

 siderable progress, its smell becomes 

 sweet, and resembles amber. If bile be 

 heated, and slightly concentrated by eva- 

 poration, it may be kept for many months 

 without alteration. 



The principal use of the bile seems to 

 be, to separate the excrement from the 

 chyle, after both have been formed, and 

 to produce the evacuation of the excre- 

 ment out of the body. It is probable that 

 these substances would remain mixed to- 

 gether, and that they would perhaps 

 even be partly absorbed together, were 

 it not for the bile, which seems to com- 

 bine with the excrement, and by this 

 combination to facilitate its separation 

 from the chyle, and thus to prevent its 

 absorption. Fourcroy supposes that the 

 bile, as soon as it is mixed with the con- 



A a 





