156 PHYSIOLOGY 



motion; as nothing has so much of the bending motion as a snake. 

 However, where the liver is divided into many lobes, they will admit 

 of a sliding motion on one another. 



In a dead woman, sitting on a chair, the lower angle of the right 

 lobe of the liver came as low as the angle between the colon and ileum ; 

 thence it ran obliquely upward to the angle of the cartilage with the 

 seventh rib on the left side. The gall-bladder was perpendicular, 

 three inches below the angle of the cartilage with the seventh rib on 

 the right side. The lower end of the spleen was just two inches 

 below the cartilages of the ninth and tenth ribs, which is just opposite 

 the navel. The stomach was below the navel and on its left side. On 

 laying her on her back, all these parts went three inches higher. 

 Every part seemed to be in its natural situation and size, only the 

 stomach was lower than usual. 



Notes and Que?*ies on Bile. 



What is bile ? It mixes more readily with spirit of wine than with 

 water ; but still very readily with water. Bile is a secretion, not a fer- 

 mentation. It is a decomposition of the parts of the blood made by the 

 vessels of the liver ; or, in other words, a straining off of such parts 

 as, when united again, make a combination called bile. 



Has not bile more vegetable juice in it than any other secretion 

 excepting the milk x ? It is bitter ; gives a tinge to Avater, alcohol, &c. 



"When the bile is stopped from going into the intestines, then follows 

 a costiveness. This shows that the bile acts as a stimulant to the 

 intestines, and is a kind of natural purge. As this is really the case, 

 we cannot suppose that the bile goes through the stomachic fermenta- 

 tion ; therefore it is not digested. Again, we cannot suppose that the 

 bile assists in digestion or the stomachic fermentation, as it never 

 enters the stomach in a natural state, and, when it does, it produces a 

 contrary effect, viz. a nausea. This shows that digestion is carried on 

 in the stomach alone, and shows why the bile should not enter the 

 stomach, as its natural effects might be destroyed by being obliged to 

 undergo a change in its nature*. 



It appears very evident that the bile is only a natural purge, for it 

 undergoes no change in its passage through the intestinal canal. The 

 contents of the duodenum are white, with a faint yellow tinge ; but the 

 lower they go the yellower they become. This is owing to the greater 



* Does soap go through the stomachic fermentation, as it is found to kill worms ? 

 1 [Here Hunter is thinking of the ' sugar' of milk.] 



