258 POULTRY CULTURE 



The absorbing vessels from the intestines enter the hver and 

 is included in the functional blood. 



Bile possesses a bitter taste, is dark green in color, alkaline 

 in reaction, rather thick, with a specific gravity of over 1020. 



The color of bile depends on the kind and quantity of pig- 

 ment present. The liver of the fowl is provided with a gall- 

 bladder, which adds a rather viscid-like mucous secretion to 

 the bile being stored, making the gall from the bladder more 

 viscid and heavier in specific gravity than that from the bile- 

 ducts. This is due to the fact that solids are added to it from 

 the walls of the bladder. 



The bile does not contain ferments, as does the pancreas. 



Bile contains bihary acids, fats, soaps, biliary pigments, 

 cholesterin, lecithin, and inorganic salts. 



On analysis of the bile there is found carbon dioxid and 

 traces of nitrogen and oxygen, together with sulphur, phos- 

 phates, and chlorid of sodium and salts of calcium, iron, mag- 

 nesium, and potassium. There is also present sulphuric and 

 phosphoric acids. The larger proportion of salt is sodium. 

 The phosphate of iron content is probably derived from hemo- 

 globin of the broken-down and worn-out red blood-cells. 



The percentage of water varies from 88.8 per cent, to 95 per 

 cent. The inorganic constituents (salts) form 0.6 per cent, to 

 1.3 per cent. The organic constituents (bile acids, bile-pig- 

 ment, fat, and mucin) vary from 4.1 to 10.1 per cent. 



The cholesterin, a product of cell metabolism, is eliminated 

 by the liver. It forms the principal constituent of gall-stones. 

 In the bile it is held in solution by aid of the bile salts. 



Another waste product of the body is lecithin, which is ex- 

 creted by the liver and eleminated with the bile. 



There are two pigments — namely, bilirubin and biliverdin. 

 Biliverdin is oxidized biUrubin. These pigments give color to 

 the bile. The pigments are insoluble in water, but soluble in 

 alkahes. They are held in solution in the bile by aid of the 

 alkalies and bile acids. 



There are two bile salts — namely, taurocholate and glyco- 

 cholate of soda. Taurocholate of soda is formed in the hver by 

 the union of taurine and cholalic acid, and glycocholate by the 

 union of glycin with cholalic acid; they exist in combination 



