138 DR. E. CRISP ON THE GALL-BLADDER, ETC. [April 8, 



spected it was proportionately smaller. In the Ophidians it is of 

 moderate size. In a Python {Python molurus), weighing thirty-three 

 pounds, its capacity was about two ounces. In the Batrachians its 

 form is more globular, and its size (relatively) larger. I have not 

 found the gall-bladder absent in any Keptile. 



Fishes. In the British Fishes (forty-two species of which I have 

 only examined for this purpose) I found a gall-bladder, the shape 

 globular in all, with the exception of that of the Tunny before named : 

 it is rather capacious in this division. In a Pike {Esox lucius) 

 weighing twenty-eight pounds, the capacity was about one ounce. In 

 a Wolf-fish (Anar7-hiehas) weighing twelve pounds, about the same. 

 In the Lophius piscatorius, a very ravenous fish, it was much smaller. 

 In the Shark {Lamna cornuUca), Dog Fishes (Scyllia), and Rays 

 {Raiada) its proportionate capacity is about the same as in the os- 

 seous fishes. 



Before I finish this part of my subject, I will add a few remarks 

 about the supposed absence of a gall-bladder in many fishes. 

 Cuvier did not depend always upon his own observations. I believe 

 that this organ has escaped notice in many instances, especially in 

 the Fishes. The Giraffe was supposed not to possess a gall-bladder ; 

 but in two examined by Professor Owen, one was Avithout a gall- 

 bladder, the other had a double gall-bladder, as may be seen in the 

 preparation in the Hunterian Museum. 



As I have stated before, in three Giraffes that I have inspected, 

 this viscus was wanting in all. I have met with one specimen of a 

 double gall-bladder in the Sheep ; and in the Hunterian Museum 

 there is the liver of a small animal (unknown) with three distinct 

 gall-bladders ; so that I think it will be well for future observers 

 not to assume that this reservoir is absent, but to look for it in all 

 the Vertebrata. It is well to remember, too, that the gall-bladder 

 in some reptiles and fishes is not always close to the liver — a circum- 

 stance, as stated by Cuvier, that may have led to its having been 

 often undiscovered. Sir E. Home, as mentioned in the ' Museum 

 Catalogue of the College of Surgeons,' described, in the * Philoso- 

 phical Transactions' for 1809, the Basking Shark (^Selache maxima) 

 as being without a gall-bladder. M. de Blainville (in the ' Annales 

 du Museum,' 1811) found a gall-bladder in this fish, 4 or 5 inches 

 in diameter ; but it was seated 6 feet from the liver. As I am speak- 

 ing of the Hunterian Museum, I may add, for the purpose of showing 

 how little this subject has been attended to, that only ten gall- 

 bladders are to be seen in this collection — one of a Fish, three of 

 Reptiles, three of Birds, and three of Quadrupeds. 



I have only time for a passing remark on the quantity of bile 

 secreted by various animals. The estimate must to a great extent be 

 conjectural ; but in the human subject, where fistulous communica- 

 tions have been accidentally estabUshed, and in Dogs and other 

 animals where the ducts have been exposed, some indications of the 

 average daily quantity of this secretion may be formed. Thus, in 

 Man it is probably from six to ten ounces daily. In the domesti- 

 cated Ox — a quadruped (as before stated) that has, I believe, a larger 



