98 THE BILE. 



the inner coat of the stomach, as it contains a network of in- 

 numerable blood-vessels, abounds in mucous glands x , and is 

 marked by rugae y, which occasionally have a beautifully cancel- 

 lated and reticulated appearance. 



" Its cervix is conical, terminates in the cystic duct, is tortuous, 

 and contains a few falciform valves. z 



" The bile which has passed into the gall-bladder is retained 

 until, from the reclined or supine posture of the body, it flows 

 down from it spontaneously, or is squeezed 3 out by the pressure 

 of the neighbouring jejunum, or ileum, or of the colon when 

 distended by faeces. 



" The presence of stimuli in the duodenum may derive the bile 

 in that direction. 



" The great contractility of the gall-bladder, proved by expe- 

 riments on living animals, and by pathological phenomena, pro- 

 bably assists the discharge of bile, especially when this fluid has, 

 by retention, become very stimulating. 



" For the cystic bile, though very analogous to the hepatic, 

 becomes more concentrated, viscid, and bitter, by stagnation in 

 the gall-bladder ; the cause of which is, in all probability, the ab- 

 sorption of its more watery parts by the lymphatic vessels." b 



Many animals have no gall-bladder; v. c. the horse, goat, &c. 

 All the carnivorous among the mammalia possess it, and all 

 reptiles, most of which also are carnivorous ; while those of the 

 class mammalia that are destitute of it, are, with the exception of 

 the porpoise and dolphin, vegetable feeders. Hence, Cuvier 

 thinks that it is intended as a reservoir of bile where the animal 

 is subject to long fasting from the uncertain supply of food. The 

 gall-bladder is sometimes absent in the human subject. I have 

 read of six instances of this. c 



x " Vicq-d'Azyr, (Euvres, t. T. p. 343." 



* " Casp. Fr. Wolff, Act. Acad. Sclent. Petropol. 1779. P. ii." 

 z " Caldesi, Osservaz. intorno alle Tartarughe. Tab. ii. fig. 10. 

 But especially Wolff, lately commended, 1. c. P. i. tab. vi. 

 Also Fr. Aug. Walter, 1. c. tab. i." 



a " Caldani, Institut. Physiolog. p. 364. sq. Patav. 1778. 8vo." 

 b " See Reverhorst, 1. c. tab. ii. fig. 3. 

 Ruyscb, 1. c. tab. v. fig. 4. 

 Werner and Feller, 1. c. tab. ii. fig. 5. 

 Mascagni, tab. xviii." 



c Phil. Trans. 1749. The subject was a woman sixty years of age. Also 

 1. c. 1813. Transact, of the Coll. of Phys. vol. vi. Mr. Cook's edition of 

 Morgagni, Gazette de France, 1826; and Journal Hebdomadaire, referred to in 

 the London Medical Gazette, 1829. 



