CHAP. IV. §. H. DDBING BILTAKY SECEETON. 39 



have however shewn, that with the alkaline hases 

 which exist in the hile, are associated peculiar 

 organic acids, such as the bilie, choleie, &e. As these 

 acid compounds are easily decomposed, we should 

 not he justified in supposing, from finding a number 

 of indestructible basic elements which exist in the 

 ultimate analysis of the bile, that these basic ele- 

 ments therefore existed as such in the composition 

 of the bile; and although the bile may present 

 an alkaline reaction, this alone would not necessarily 

 indicate the existence of a free alkali. It would 

 appear more reasonable to suppose, that these basic 

 elements existed in combination with the destructible 

 organic acids. Similar remarks may undoubtedly be 

 made respecting the composition of the blood, but 

 the chemical evidence in favour of the existence of 

 a free alkali in the blood is far stronger than that 

 for its existence in the bile. The opinion that the 

 fluidity of the blood may be dependent upon the 

 alkaline salts has been long entertained by phy- 

 siologists, and would appear to have received strong 

 confirmation from the recent experiments of Db. 

 EicHAEDSON*, to which I may refer. 



Having so far removed this objection, the same 

 remarks that were made in regard to the secretion 

 that occurs in the intestinal canal, and which I need 

 not recapitulate, may now be applied to the formation 

 of the bile. So here in another class of secretions, 



' The Cause of the Coagulation of the Blood. Churchill, 1858. 



