PHYSIOLOGICAL ACTIONS OF DRUGS ON THE SECRETION OF BILE. 163 
TABLE XI. 
Secretion of Bile per Kilo- 
| gramme of Body-weight 
, vad Kil per hour. 
| Colchicum. _ Total Dose in Grains. f ccne ae pe | 
Before. After. 
_ ; ey) . . | 
Experiment 16, 60 without bile, 2°5 "Ol See. 0-45 ce 
o 17: : 60 A bs Dit) Orie: OE 2mee: 
TABLE XII.—-Composition of the Bile before and after Colchicum. 
| 
Experiment 17. Before. After. 
Water, : 88434 90°63 
Organic Bile-solids, 10°616 8°75 
Ash, . 0-950 0°62 
100-00 100-00 
Velocity of bile-secretion per half hour, ; : 7 ne 1-2, ee. 2°24 ce. 
It appears from the above analysis that colchicum rendered the bile more 
watery ; nevertheless, owing to the increased velocity of secretion, more biliary 
matter was excreted by the liver under its influence. 
Results of Experiments with Colchicum.—1. Sixty grains of the aqueous 
extract of colchicum powerfully excited the liver in Experiment 16, but 
feebly in Experiment 17; yet, in both cases, the relation of the dose to the 
size of the animal was the same. In the latter case the purgative action was 
more marked, and the decided fall in the curve at the close of the experiment, 
as well as the never very great excitement of the liver, was probably due to~ 
the greater purgation. The dose was needlessly large ; but we were still under 
the erroneous idea that the dog requires larger doses of drugs. 2. Although 
colchicum increases the amount of biliary matter secreted by the liver, it renders 
the bile more watery. 
As in all the preceding experiments, the drugs stimulated the intestinal 
glands as well as the liver, and as the podophyllin experiment (9) and the 
colchicum experiment (17) seemed to show the stimulating effect of the mole- 
cules of a substance on the liver may be overcome by a very powerful action 
