202 PROFESSOR RUTHERFORD ON THE 
last hour, after 217 grains of the salt had been given, it was 0°341 cc. In 
Experiment 50a the coefficient during the first hour was 0:23 cc.; during the 
fifth hour, when the secretion was at its height, it rose to 0°28 cc.,—128 grains 
of sodium bicarbonate having been given. It is, therefore, evident that, though 
the blood of the portal vein was, comparatively speaking, laden with this very 
readily decomposable sodium salt, the hepatic cells were scarcely at all excited 
thereby. It may, 
therefore, be inferred 
that, although sodium 
is required to form 
the salts of the bile- 
acids, a liberal supply 
of sodium has a 
feeble influence in 
leading to an in- 
: : : : : i a creased formation of 
Fig. 504.—Secretion of bile before and after sodium bicarbonate. 5 ce. water and bile. Sodium bicar- 
2°5cc. bile injected into duodenum at b. The same with 64 grains sodium bonate is, therefore, 
bicarbonate injected at s, s’, and s”. 
an exceedingly feeble 
hepatic excitant even in large doses; and it may, therefore, be inferred 
that the ordinary dose of 10 or 20 grains, given to the human subject, 
produces no appreciable influence on his bile-secretion. It should be stated 
that the introduction of bile into the intestine—though of great service 
when resinous substances are given, as has been already explained—was in 
these experiments entirely needless. Indeed, the introduction of 10 cc. of bile 
in the case of dog 50 was of itself calculated to slightly increase the bile- 
secretion ; but in Experiment 50a the distinct rise of secretion after each dose 
of the sodium salt was combined with the 2 cc. of bile and water that had pre- 
‘viously had no effect, clearly shows that the sodium bicarbonate was the cause 
of the increased hepatic activity. . | 
| 
| 
Experiment 51. Dog that had fasted eighteen hours. Weight 19:3 kilo- 
grammes (fig. 51).—31 grains of potassium bicarbonate in 8 cc. of water were 
injected into the duodenum at p, p’, and p”, and 108 grains in 8 cc. of water — 
were injected at p’’—201 grains being given in all. The bile-secretion was | 
distinctly increased. 
Necropsy.—58 ce. of a clear brownish fluid, with numerous mucous flakes in 
‘small intestine. Vascularity of mucous membrane considerably increased. ~ 
ACTION OF PoTAsstuM BICARBONATE. 
