B I L 



g'afs green to a b'own. This precipitate has the proper- 

 tics of a refin. From lOO parts of bile, 1.87 of cryftalliztd 

 foda has been obtained, and fome wta probably loft in the 

 proccfs. Cadet alfo obtained from biie a fait of a fw^ttifh 

 tafte. There are other fubllaiices found in bik in fmall 

 quantities : Inlphurated hydrogen gas, wliich is cmitttd on 

 the addition of nuniatic acid ; a little muriate of finia, phof- 

 phate of lime, and phofphate of fuda and of iron. Of courfe 

 water is the vehicle for all thefe fubllances, and forms the 

 largcft (hare of the ingredients in the compolitijn of bile. 

 For an account of the fecretion of bile, fee the article L.t~ 

 V ER, fu'i^'iians of. 



Bile, in Chenil/lry. This fluid may juftly be confidered 

 as cqvally im|)orta:'t to the chcmill as to the piiyfiologiil ; 

 and accordingly it has been examined with extreme minute- 

 ncfs by a great number of eminent chemifts. in various coun- 

 tries, with a general parity of Vefult which is highly fatis- 

 laftory. Indeed the analylis of bile, as far as relates to the 

 deteftion of its leading conltituent parts, is neither very 

 complicated nor remarkably difficult. 



Chemifts have not been able to deteft any confiderable 

 difierence between the bile immediately fecretcd from the 

 liver, and that which is found in the gall-bladder, excepting 

 that the latter appears on the whole to be fomewliat hU 

 watery, more bitter and more vifcid than the fonner. The age 

 of the animal m.akts a greater difference, the bile or gall of 

 oxen being more vifcid than that of calves. On account of 

 the eafe with which ox-gall is procured in confiderable quan- 

 tity, this has generally been feletfed for experiment ; but its 

 analyds docs not eiFentially differ from that of the bile of 

 any other animal. 



Bile is a homogenous fluid, in feme animals of a deep 

 yellowifli brown, in others of various (hades of green, fo 

 vifcid as not to pour by drops ; of a peculiar faint fmell, 

 but not ungi-ateful when frcih, and not from a difeafcd ani- 

 mal ; intenfely bitter to the tafte, even when very largely 

 diluted with water, and fomewhat pungent. It is confi- 

 derably heavier than water ; its fpeciiic gravity being from 

 about 1.02 to 1.025, varying according to the age and 

 health of the animal, and probably to the time that it has 

 remained within the gall-bladder. "When agitated, bile 

 lathers hke foap water. 



When bile is gently heated, an aqueous vapour arifes, 

 which, when condenfed, appears by the moft delicate re- 

 agents to be nothing but water, ftronglv impregnated how- 

 ever with the odorous part of this fluid, and fomewhat foetid. 

 Bile lofes about fcven eighths of its bulk of mere water by 

 this evaporation ; and the refidue gradually thickens into 

 the confiftence of a tenacious extracft, which, on carefully 

 drying, becomes a hard brittle (hining refir.-like mafs, of a 

 dark colour, and intenfely bitter. 



li this extraft of bile be (lowly heated in a retort to de- 

 conjpofilion, the produfts are, a watery fluid fatid with ful- 

 phiiretted hydrogen gas, a brown fcetid liquor containing 

 ammonia, a tenacious ilinking empyreumatic oil, with more 

 carbonated ammonia, and a copious emifhon of carbonic acid, 

 and carburetted with fulphuretted hydrogen. The mafs 

 in the retort fweils up prodigioufly in the procefs, and leavcb 

 a puffy coal eafy to incinerate, the afhes of which contain a 

 notable quantity of carbo:'.ated foda, with fome muriated 

 foda, phofphat of foda and lim.e, and a little iron. Fon- 

 tana obtained from a pound of ox-gall 43 grains of carbonateid 

 ioda, ai;d 6 grains of common fait. 



The reiidue, therefore, of calcined bile contains alkali in 

 excels ; and hence water, vvith which it has been lixiviated, 

 readily turns fynip of violets green. The fame tell of an 



B IL 



alkali is given with frefh bile, diluted with water, tfcat the 



char.ge ot colour may be more apparent. 



The adion of acidi on bile throws much h'glit on its con?, 

 polltion. Muriatic aciil, Ihong or dilute, added to bile, 

 immediately produces a coagulation, and, at the fame tiirc, 

 renders the whole liquor of a fine light green. The coa- 

 guhim, however, is partly redidolvcd, if the acid is con- 

 centrated. Examined chemically, it is found to be albu- 

 men, but intenfely bitter. In the clear green liquor, though 

 retaining the muriatic acid, the bitter tafte alfo ftronglv pre- 

 dominates. Evaporated (lov.ly, it dcpofits in about an hour's 

 time another precipitate, very green, intenfely bitter, aud 

 foft and tenacious hke turpentine. The clear liquor is now 

 ycrllowifti, and, on further evaporation, yitlds a number of 

 cubical crjflals of muriated foda, formed cliiefly, if not e;.- 

 tirel)', by the foda originally contained in the bile a:id the 

 acid added. As a proof that this is the cafe, if the experi- 

 m',;;t is made with nitrons or fulphuric acid; inftead of the 

 muriatic, the fait wil! be nitrated or fulphated foda. The 

 above decompofition is more perfeft, if bile and dilute muri* 

 atic acid are at lirft boiled together for a few mi:;utrs ; the 

 refult then is a total feparation of a dark green glutinous 

 bitter mafs, and a liquid now colourlefs and fcarcely bitter, 

 from which the muriated foda may be procured bv evapo- 

 ration. 



This glutinous coagulum, when dry, bums like a rcfin. 

 Alcohol heated upon it diffolves one part, and leaves another 

 untouched, thus entirely feparating it into two diitinft pnnci- 

 ples; the inloluble, which is albumen ; and the foluble, wliich 

 retains the colour and tafte of bik, is totallv pivcioltated 

 from the fpirit by water, is highly inflammable, infoiuble in 

 water, and has been confidered as a fpecies of refm or con- 

 crefcible oil, and is termed by fome the njin of Hie. Four- 

 croy, however, fuppofes it to be more of the nature of aJ't- 

 pocire. 



Alcohol alone is another important rc-agent for the ana- 

 lyfis of bile. When thefe two fluids arc mixed together, a 

 coagulum is immediately formed of a whitilh tenacious fub- 

 ftance, fcarcely bitter when well waftied, and exhibiting all 

 the properties of albumen. The lemaing liquor is green, 

 and contains, mixed with the alcohol, the rcfiuous, faline, and 

 colouring matter of the bile. Alcohol equally fcparates 

 albumen from bile, infpiffated by evaporation, and diffolvee 

 the remainder. The alcohohc fohition of bile, not previoufly 

 treated by an acid, differs confidcrably from that which has 

 undergone this treatment. In the latter cafe, as before men- 

 tioned, the folutioa is dccompofable by mere water, and by 

 evaporation is converted into a very ttfinous prodnif. In 

 the former cafe, the folution mixes uniformly with water, 

 yields by evaporation a tranfparent extraft like gu!n-arabic, 

 of a fweetifh tafte, a little mixed with the natur.il bitternefs 

 of bile, and eafiiy foluble in water. The reafoi. of this 

 difference is doubtlefs owing to the feparation of the foda 

 from the refin of bile by the oxyd in one inftance, whereas 

 in the other they remain united in the form of a natural foap. 

 Hence it is that the affufion of an acid upon the latter alco- 

 hohc folution decompofes it, and ftparatesan imctuous Inb- 

 ftance, which again diifolved in alcohol is iwii' precipitable 

 from this folvent by iimple water, and refembks a pure re- 

 finous folution. 



Some chemifts have thought that they could alfo detcft 

 a faccharine matter in bile, but the experiments 10 this pur- 

 pofe are not conclufive. 



The oxygenized muriatic acid gas paffcd through bile di- 

 luted with a hltle water, foon deftroys its yellow green colour, 

 and prscipitates the albumen in white floccuh; thefaponaceous 



refin 



