AND OF THE BILE. 61 



of the butterfly of the silkworm, contain urate of am- 

 monia. This constant occurrence of one or two nitro- 

 genized compounds in the excretions of animals, while 

 so great a difference exists in their food, clearly proves 

 that these compounds proceed from one and the same 

 source. 



As little doubt can be entertained in regard to the 

 function of the bile in the vital process. When we 

 consider, that the acetate of potash, given in enema, or 

 simply as a bath for the feet, renders the urine strongly 

 alkaline (Rehberger in Tiedemann's Zeitschrift fur 

 Physiologic, II. 149), and that the change which the 

 acetic acid here undergoes cannot be conceived without 

 the addition of oxygen, it is obvious, that the soluble 

 constituents of the bile, prone to change in a high de- 

 gree as -we know them to be, and which, as already 

 stated, cannot be employed in the production of blood, 

 must, when returned through the intestines into the cir- 

 culation, in like manner yield to the influence of the 

 oxygen which they meet. The bile is a compound of 

 soda, the elements of which, with the exception of the 

 soda, disappear in the body of a carnivorous animal. 



In the opinion of many of the most distinguished 

 physiologists, the bile is intended solely to be excreted ; 

 and nothing is more certain, than that a substance con- 

 taining so very small a proportion of nitrogen can have 

 no share in the process of nutrition or reproduction of 

 organized tissue. But quantitative physiology must at 

 once and decidedly reject the opinion, that the bile serves 

 6 



