COMPOSITION OF BILE. 369 
the secretion of the upper part of the small intestine is scanty in 
quantity, slimy and clot-like, while in the lower part the secretion is 
much more fluid, and contains small clot-like masses. It contains 
4-5 parts per 1000 each of sodium chloride and sodium carbonate. 1 
Pregl 2 has recently obtained succus entericus from a Vella fistula in the 
sheep, and estimated its alkalinity as equivalent to - 454 per cent, of 
Xa 2 C0 3 . The specific gravity of the fluid averaged 1014. It contained 
proteid, and coagulated on standing. Thiry found in the dog, 2 - 2 to 2*8 of 
total solids, 07 to 1*2 of proteid, 0*7 to 0-9 of ash, per cent.; Leube, 0-8 to 27 
per cent, of proteid ; Quincke, T34 to T45 per cent, of total solids ; 
Frerichs, 2 - 27 per cent, of total solids; Guniilewski, 1*5 per cent, of 
total solids. 
Tubby and Manning 3 obtained pure human succus entericus from a 
piece of intestine, Sh in. in length, situated about 8 in. from the 
ileo-csecal valve, for a period of some months ; the daily yield from this 
length of gut averaged 27 c.c. (19 to 35). As a mean of thirty determina- 
tions, the specific gravity was found to be 1-0069 (1-0016 to 1-0162). The 
fluid was generally opalescent, and often had a brownish tint ; it con- 
tained a few T leucocytes and columnar cells, and was free from bacteria. 
It was invariably alkaline in reaction, and gave off carbonic acid gas on 
treatment with acids. It gave all the proteid reactions, and did not 
reduce Fehling's solution or alter the colour of iodine solution. It con- 
tained lactates, as shown by darkening a dilute solution of ferric chloride, 
and giving Uffelmann's test. It also contained much mucin. 
Bile. 
Action on foodstuffs.— Bile differs from the other digestive secre- 
tions in not possessing a marked chemical action on any of the organic 
foodstuffs. Bile alone is said to exert a diastatic action on starch, 4 but 
this is very slight and inconstant, and seems to be merely due to a slight 
absorption of diastatic enzymes; 5 on the other foodstuffs it has no 
chemical action whatever. Bile also increases the rate of action of 
pancreatic diastase ; but the bile salts alone have a similar effect, so that 
this accelerating action is not due to a diastatic enzyme. 6 
It has been shown that the presence of bile in the intestine 
has a favourable influence on the absorption of fat, and that when 
it is excluded, although the absorption of fat is not stopped, it be- 
comes very defective, and the same amount of fat cannot be taken 
up as when bile is present. This will be considered later under Fat 
Absorption. 
Chemical composition. — In its physical characteristics and chemical 
composition the bile is a variable mixture, not only in different classes of 
animals, but in the same individual. As secreted by the liver cells, and 
until it reaches the gall bladder, it is a clear limpid fluid, with a low 7 
1 Guniilewski, Arch. f. d. ges. Physiol., Bonn, 18S6, Bd. xxxix. S. 565. 
2 Ibid., 1896, Bd. lxi. S. 359. 
3 Guy's Hosp. Rep., London, 1891, vol. xlviii. p. 277. 
4 Ewald, "Klinikd. Verdauungskrankkeiten," 1890, Bd. i. S. 150. 
5 According to Kaufmann {Compt. rend. Soc. de. biol., Paris, 1890, tome xli. p. 600), 
the ferment occurs in the bile of the ox, pig, and sheep, in traces in that of the cat, and 
never in dog's bile. Ellenberg and Hofmeister {Arch. f. wissensch. u. prakt. Thicrh., 
Berlin, 1885, Bd. xi. S. 381, 393) found a diastatic ferment in horse, ox, and sheep bile, and 
occasionally in that of the dog and pig. In all cases, traces only of ferment are present. 
6 Martin and Williams, Proc. Roy. Soc. London, 1889, vol. xlv. p. 358. 
VOL. I. — 24 
