FORMATION OF BILE CONSTITUENTS. 561 
both, in bile the proportion of this salt is no1 nearly so high as in 
plasma. This maj possibly be explained by the withdrawal of hydro- 
chloric acid in the stomach, leaving the soda to be combined with the 
organic acids of the bile. 
A study of the excretion of chlorine in the bile has been made by 
Dagnini in Albertom's laboratory. 1 He finds that in dogs with a 
permanent fistula the percentage of chlorine varies little, and that it 
is only slightly raised by the administration of chloride of sodium, or 
of potassium. < hlorides, as is well known, are chiefly excreted by 
the kidney. 
( riovanni Pirn - has studied the secretion of sodium and potassium, 
and finds that, while the amount of sodium excreted per diem is very 
constant in spite of variations in diet, and in spite of the administration 
of chloride of sodium, the excretion of potassium varies within wide 
limits, and is increased by giving sodium and potassium chloride in the 
food. The sodium is in great measure combined with the organic 
acids of the bile, and hence these results do not throw light upon the 
excretion of sodium in inorganic compounds. 
On the secretion of lime salts, work has been done under Xaunyn's 
direction by Jankau. He shows that the amount of lime in bile is very 
small, and that it is not increased by the administration of lime salts. 3 
From the fact that lime salts are present in the secretions from mncons 
membranes, Xaunyn suggests that the lime of the bile may be formed in 
the bile passages. 
The very small quantity of iron which exists in the bile (less than 
1 mgr. per diem in the dog) 4 may be derived from the iron stored in the 
liver cells, or may be formed from the disintegration of the epithelial 
lining of the passages. Evidence on the subject is wanting. 
How far the other inorganic salts are secreted by the liver cells, 
and how far by the cells lining the bile passages, cannot be considered 
as established. There is clear evidence to show that they are, in part 
at any rate, formed in the latter situation. In a series of analyses of 
bile, collected from a woman with a complete biliary fistula, it was found 
that during attacks of fever the true biliary constituents, the organic 
salts and pigments, were markedly diminished, while the proportion of 
inorganic salts remained unaltered, between 07 and 08 per cent. 5 
Birch and Spong's analysis of the fluid from the gall bladder showed 
the presence of 0"826 per cent, of inorganic salts, of which the chief was 
chloride of sodium. Mayo Eobson found 084 per cent, of inorganic 
matter. Analysis of freshly secreted human bile gives about the same 
proportion of salts. 6 Hence, since the amount of salts is the same in 
the small amount of fluid secreted from the bile passages, and in the 
total amount of bile poured out from bile passages and liver cells 
together, about the same proportion of salts must exist in the secretion 
from each. 
Nucleo-proteid. — The mucus-like nucleo-proteid of bile is formed in 
the bile passages and gall bladder. The amount in bile is small, about 
0"2 per cent. 
1 Mem. r. Accad. d. sc. d. 1st. di Bologna, 1893, Ser. 5, vol. i. p. '3. 
-Ibid., 1893. 
3 Naunyn, ''Cholelithiasis," translated by A. E. Garrod, Xew. Syd. Soc, p. 15. 
4 Auselm, Arb. d. pharmakol. Inst, zu Dorpat, Stuttgart, 1892, Bd. vii. 
Hep. Lab. Roy. Coll. Phys., Edin., vol. iv. p. 44. 
6 Hoppe-Seyler, "Physiol. Chena.," S. 302. 
VOL. I. — ^6 
