6a Mr . Abernethy's Account of two Instances of 
into a deep green, consequently this fluid, like common bile, 
abounded with alkali. I added some diluted nitrous acid to a 
small quantity of this, and of common bile ; they both be- 
came changed, by this addition, to a similar green colour. 
The colouring matter of the bile therefore appears to have 
possessed its common properties. 
The gall ducts had been divided, in removing the stomach 
and duodenum, before the uncommon termination of the vena 
portarum was discovered, and some bile had flowed from the 
divided ducts. 
The intestines did not contain much alimentary or fcecal 
matter ; this was, however, as usual, deeply tinged with bile. 
The spleen consisted of seven separate portions, to each of 
which a branch of the splenic artery was distributed. The 
other viscera were sound, and of their usual structure and ap- 
pearance. 
No cause could be discovered to which the child’s death 
could be assigned. We observed that the tongue was in- 
crusted with a dark coloured mucus, which indicated the 
existence of fever previous to the infant’s death. 
When an anatomist contemplates the performance of bi- 
liary secretion by a vein, a circumstance so contrary to the 
general economy of the body, he naturally concludes, that 
bile cannot be prepared unless from venal blood ; and he also 
infers, that the equal and undisturbed current of blood in the 
veins is favourable to the secretion ; but the circumstances of 
the present case, in which bile was secreted by an artery, 
prove the fallacy of this reasoning. I extremely regret that 
only so small a quantity of this bile could be collected from 
the gall bladder ; as, surely, it was very desirable to ascertain 
