THE LIVER AND ITS SECRETIONS. 
433 
in the hepatic vein are in inverse ratio, by which it appears to 
me that the peculiar sugar of the liver is the result of the 
formation of nerve-matter, and that formation to be the 
special function of the biliary secretion. 
The bile, combined with that portion of the chyme which 
I believe to be taken up by the capillaries of the intestines 
and mesenteric glands, I think is mixed in the vena porta 
with that portion of the blood which has undergone the 
assimilative process of the spleen ; for I find by making a 
thin section of the spleen with a Valentin knife, and placing 
it, without washing, upon a slip of glass, and covering it with 
thinner glass, that after a short time I detected, by the aid of 
the microscope, with a 5-inch lens, characteristic tufts and 
crystals of fatty acids, in which respect it differs from the 
blood of any other viscera I have ever examined. I think 
that the similarity of symptoms in splenitis and hepatitis, 
warrant the supposition of connexion of functions; and I find 
by recorded experiments, that when the spleen has been 
extirpated for any length of time in the living animal, that 
the mesenteric glands have been found to be enlarged, and 
also some affirm that the bile becomes very bitter and dark 
coloured. May we not account for these abnormal appear- 
ances by inferring, that nature imposes upon the liver extra 
work, and that the bile is either augmented in strength or 
volume, so that it unites with more of the suitable portion of 
the chyme, and consequently gives the mesenteric glands 
more to do, causing in time the hypertrophy of those struc- 
tures ? 1 think the lowness of spirits and want of nervo- 
muscular power and energy evinced in the above-named 
diseases, point to the nerves as the parts ultimately 
affected. 
“ Truth is like the veins of a metal in a mine ; it is often 
of excessive thinness, and moreover it runneth not in one 
continuous layer. Lose it once, and you may dig long and 
deep before you discover it again. The eye must watch per- 
petually the direction of the lode/ 5 
