1907.] The Pressure of Bile Secretion, etc. 527 



pressure, in other cases a lower pressure was employed. Injection was 

 continued for periods of time varying from one to six hours. 



On completion of the experiment, the bile duct was ligatured and the liver 

 removed and placed in cold 10-per-cent. formalin. After a time it was cut 

 up, fixation completed in formalin, and pieces cut in paraffin. Sections were 

 lightly stained with hematoxylin and examined. 



Results Obtained. 



Injection of the bile duct at the maximum pressure of bile secretion was 

 in every case sufficient to fill the larger bile ducts with carmine gelatine. 

 Where the animal was living throughout the experiment the secretion of bile 

 continued, the lymph vessels in the portal fissure were distended with bile- 

 stained lymph, and the yellow colour could in some cases be seen extending 

 into the thoracic duct. In several experiments both in the cat and dog 

 carmine gelatine was found in the lymph trunks of the liver and in the 

 portal lymph glands. Whenever injection mass appeared in the lymph 

 trunks outside the liver the injection had been at a comparatively high 

 pressure or had been continued for some time. In Cat A, the maximum bile 

 pressure of which was 366 mm., the injection pressure was 410 mm. for 

 40 minutes, and was then raised to 520 mm. water for 30 minutes longer. 

 The animal was living throughout the time of injection, and carmine gelatine 

 was freely mixed with lymph both in the portal lymphatics and thoracic 

 duct. In Dog A, maximum bile pressure 328 mm., the injection was at 

 a pressure of 400 mm. water for three hours (dog living). In this case also 

 carmine gelatine was present in portal lymphatics and thoracic duct. Cat L,, 

 maximum bile pressure 289 mm., was injected for six hours at a pressure of 

 120 mm. water. The animal was dead before injection began, but the 

 inferior vena cava had been ligatured above the diaphragm ; carmine gelatine 

 was found in the portal lymphatics on completion of the experiment. 



We attempted to ascertain the time at which bile appears in the portal 

 lymph trunks after ligature of the bile duct. For this purpose we clamped 

 the cystic and common bile ducts in a cat, opened a lymph trunk near the 

 portal fissure and gathered the lymph every two minutes by pieces of 

 blotting paper which had previously been soaked in a solution of cane sugar 

 and dried. After drying the lymph-filled pieces we tested them with strong 

 sulphuric acid for bile acids. We were not satisfied with the reaction, but 

 the lymph trunks issuing from the liver were strongly bile-stained one hour 

 after obstruction of the bile duct. Heidenhain found indigo-sulphate of 

 soda to appear in the lymph very soon after its injection into the bile ducts,, 

 but in such an experiment there is no guarantee that the entry has not been 



