PANCREATIC FLUID. 213 



the liver. The albumen is, in these last cases, probably due to 

 transudation. 



Urea occurs in the bile in uraemia, and therefore principally in 

 cholera and Bright's disease. 



The solid constituents are usually increased in the bile in cases 

 of cardiac affections and abdominal diseases which produce con- 

 gestion in the large veins; and in cholera, in which disease all the 

 fluids become more dense from the loss of water. 



On the other hand, the bile is more watery after violent inflam- 

 mations, in dropsical affections, typhus, tuberculosis, and diabetes. 

 In these conditions the amount of water in the bile seems always 

 to be in a certain proportion to that in the blood. 



Biliary concretions (chololithi) are of three kinds : 1. Of choles- 

 terine, inclosing a nucleus of pigment; 2. Of the chalky pigment 

 alone; 3. Of pigment with lime; of a dark green or black color, 

 and almost free from cholesterine. 



The regurgitation of bile into the stomach at once arrests the 

 action of the gastric juice (p. 200). 



3. The Pancreatic Fluid. 



This secretion is colorless, clear, slightly viscid, tasteless, and 

 odorless, and presents a tolerably strong alkaline reaction. It co- 

 agulates on being heated. Its specific gravity is variable ; the con- 

 centration standing in inverse ratio to the quantity of secretion 

 afforded in a given time. 



The pancreatic fluid transforms starch into sugar in a few mi- 

 nutes, and decomposes the neutral fats into glycerine and the cqr- 

 responding fat-acids. 



About seventy-eight per cent, of the solid residue of this fluid is 

 the organic substance peculiar to it pancreatine (p. 83). 



The mineral constituents of this fluid are, principally, chloride 

 of sodium, phosphates of the alkalies and earths, sulphates of the 

 alkalies, and carbonate of lime. 



The quantity of the pancreatic fluid is not accurately known. 

 Experiments indicate that it varies not far from 4f ounces in twenty- 

 four hours in an adult man. (Bidder and Schmidt?) It is independ- 

 ent of the volume of the pancreas, and attains its height during 

 the period of digestion. Ingestion of solid food, and also especially 

 of drinks, augments it. 



Origin. The pancreatic fluid is secreted by the epithelial cells of 

 the ultimate subdivision of the duct of ( Wirsung), the pancreas. 



Function. The pancreatic fluid changes starch into glucose, the 

 albuminous elements of the food into albuminose^and the fatty into 



