DIGESTION OF FOOD. 325 
A question of interest, though difficult to answer, is the 
extent to which the various constituents of bile are manufact- 
ured in the liver. Taurin, for example, is present in some of 
Fic. 275.—Lobules of liver, interlobular vessels, and intralobular veins (Sappey). 1,1, 1, 1,3, 4, 
lobules ; 2, 2, 2, 2, intralobular veins injected with white ; 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, intralobular vessels 
filled with a dark injection. 
the tissues, but whether this is used in the manufacture of 
taurocholic acid or whether 
and possibly by a method 
in which taurin never ap- 
pears as such, is an open 
question. It is highly prob- 
able that a portion of the 
bile poured into the intes- 
tine is absorbed either as 
such or after partial decom- 
position, the products to be 
used in some way in the 
economy and presumably in 
the construction of bile by 
the liver. There are many 
facts, including some patho- 
logical phenomena, that 
point clearly to the forma- 
tion of the pigments of bile 
from hemoglobin in some 
of its stages of degeneration. 
the latter is made entirely anew, 
sng 
Fig. 276.—Portion of transverse section of hepatic 
lobule of rabbit; magnified 400 diameters 
(Kélliker). _b, 6. 6, capillary blood-vessels ; 
9,9, g, capillary bile-ducts ; J, 1, J, liver-cells. 
Pathological When the liver fails to act either from de- 
