64 AMOUNT OF BILE SECRETED. 



of soda, which occur in all the animal fluids, only 

 mere traces of soda are to be found in the faeces. 

 The soda of the bile, therefore, at all events, must 

 have returned from the intestinal canal into the 

 organism, and the same must be true of the organic 

 matters which were in combination with it. 



According to the observations of physiologists, a 

 man secretes daily from 17 to 24 oz. of bile ; a 

 large dog, 36 oz. ; a horse, 37 Ibs.-^Burdach's Phy- 

 siologic, V. p. 260.) But the faeces of a man do 

 not on an average weigh more than 5^ oz.; and 

 those of a horse 28-^ Ibs., of which 21 Ibs. are water, 

 and 7J Ibs. dry faeces. (Boussingault.) The latter 

 yield to alcohol only ^ih part of their weight of 

 soluble matter. 



If we assume the bile to contain 90 per cent, of 

 water, a horse secretes daily 592 oz. of bile, con- 

 taining 59'2 oz. of solid matter ; while 7Jlbs. or 

 120 oz. of dried excrement yield only 6oz. of mat- 

 ter soluble in alco*hol, which might possibly be 

 bile. But this matter is not bile ; when the alco- 

 hol is dissipated by evaporation, there remains a 

 soft, unctuous mass, altogether insoluble in water, 

 and which, when incinerated, leaves no alkaline 

 ashes, no soda. (10) 



During the digestive process, therefore, the soda 

 of the bile, and, along with it, all the soluble parts 

 of that fluid, are returned into the circulation. This 

 soda re-appears in the newly-formed blood, and, 

 finally, we find it in the urine in the form of phos- 



