116 



Presents. 



[Mar. 31, 



days after ligaturing the ducts (Experiments 1, 2, 5, &c), the bile 

 ducts were found so greatly increased in size that on making a section 

 of the liver, even the so-called bile capillaries could be seen by the 

 naked eye without the aid of injection. In all cases where the blood 

 vessels were filled with injection, and the liver hardened in a solution 

 of bichromate of potassium, free spaces were found between the 

 blood capillaries and the liver cells. These appeared to be the peri- 

 vascular lymph spaces of MacGillavry* and Budge.f The enlarge- 

 ment of the perivascular lymph spaces seem to have taken place at 

 the cost of the liver cells, for not only did the cells themselves 

 appear to be much smaller, but the nuclei of the neighbouring 

 hepatic cells appeared to be closer together than normal. 



Three conclusions may apparently be drawn from the results ob- 

 tained from these experiments : — 



Firstly. That bile existing in the bile ducts can only reach the 

 blood through the intervention of the lymphatics. 



Secondly. Seeing that lymphatics surround the liver blood vessels, 

 one is forced to believe that bile pigment and bile acid cannot pass 

 through the endothelium of the blood capillaries in the liver ; or, 

 perhaps, even throughout the body. The fact that bile reaches the 

 blood when it has escaped into the peritoneal cavity is no argument 

 against this view. For in that case it would reach the blood through 

 the lymphatics of the diaphragm. 



Thirdly. After the left thoracic duct has been ligatured for some 

 time, collateral lymphatics are opened up, or developed, leading into 

 the right innominate vein. 



VII. " On the Composition of Hsemocyanin." By A. B. 

 Griffiths, Ph.D., F.R.S. (Edin.), F.C.S., &c. Communi- 

 cated by M. Foster, Sec, U.S. Received March 16, 1892. 



Presents, March 31, 1892. 



Transactions. 



Calcutta: — Royal Botanic Garden. - Annals. Vol. III. Folio. 



Calcutta 1891. The Superintendent. 



Dresden: — K. Leop. -Carol. Deutsche Akademie der Naturforscher. 



Verhandlungen. Bd. LY — LVI. 4to. Halle 1891 ; Leopold- 



ina. Heft 27. 4to. Halle 1891; Katalog der Bibliothek. 



Lief. 3. 8vo. Halle 1891. The Academy. 



* MacGrillavry, " Zur Anatomie der Leber" ('Wien, Akad. Sitzber.,' v61. 50, 

 Abth. 2, 1865, p. 207). 



f Budge, " Ueber die Lymphgefasse der Leber " (' Bericlite der K. Sachs. G-esell.,' 

 1875, p. 161. 



