20 CHEMICAL PHYSIOLOGY. 



The biie inthe The function of the bile is evidently like its chemical 



intestine. 



constitution, very complicated. Stored during inter- 

 vals between digestion, it is mainly secreted as well as 

 expelled from the gall bladder during digestion, and a 

 particular quantity of it during a peculiar episode at 

 the end of the emptying of the stomach. On being 

 mixed with the acid of the chyme, the biliary acids are 

 set free, but not precipitated, as the soluble taurocholic 

 acid holds the glykocholic in solution. But a pre- 

 cipitate of peptones is nevertheless produced in the 



?ones fpep ~ mixture of chyme and bile. This, mixed with the bile- 

 acids and the biliary colouring matter, passes along 

 the intestine as a resinous adhesive substance, to be 

 altered and made absorbable by the many influences 

 of intestinal reaction. It is soluble in alkali, and as 

 much of the intestinal secretion besides gastric juice is 

 alkaline, the transformation meets with no difficulty. 

 The peptone then may pass into blood and chyle as 

 albumen and fibrinogen and nbrinoplastic matter, but 

 the bile is not so easily accounted for. The acids 



biiT ges ( certainly split up, taurine and glykokoll returning into 

 the circulation, but the cholic acid mainly disappears, 

 without leaving any trace in the blood or chyle; 

 neither contain a trace of biliary matter. In the faeces 

 only occurs a small proportion of the cholic acid, 

 amounting in man to from two to three grammes, 

 being perhaps one eighth or one twelfth of the entire 

 amount secreted. The cholophaeine has been also 

 changed and become insoluble in chloroform. We 

 must therefore assume that the cholic acid is already 

 split up or chemolysed in the intestine, and reaches 



