202 
EXPERIMENTS ON DIGESTION. 
had an acid smell, and they strongly reddened the tincture of turn- 
sol. 
3. A diminution of appetite and great thirst—the indubitable ef¬ 
fects of inflammation—manifested themselves in a few days after 
the operation. 
4. On the second or third day, the conjunctiva became of a yel¬ 
low colour. 
5. The urine, which was discharged in abundance, was of a 
yellow colour, and stained the linen on which it fell with the same 
colour. This phenomenon depended on the colouring principle of 
the bile which was found to be contained in it, and the presence of 
which we demonstrated by chemical analysis. 
6. The alvine dejections become more rare after the second or 
third day, and were of a white-grey colour, argillaceous, and of con¬ 
siderable consistence. A peculiar and exceedingly disagreeable 
odour was exhaled from them. 
7. The symptoms of jaundice disappeared at different times, in 
different dogs, after ten days in one, but not until after fifteen days 
in another. The excrement recovered its usual colour, the urine 
its ordinary tint, and the conjunctiva its primitive whiteness. The 
passage through the ductus choledoch us was restored in these ani¬ 
mals, agreeably to some of the experiments of Brodie. 
B. Post-mortem examination of the dogs that died, or were killed 
after the ligature of the ductus choledochus. —This presented the 
following results:— 
1. During the greater part of the time the peritoneum was highly 
inflamed, or there were traces of recent and great inflammation. 
Here and there, and especially in the neighbourhood of the duode¬ 
num and the liver, were effusions of coagulable lymph, and the 
viscera of the lower part of the abdomen were agglutinated toge¬ 
ther in consequence of adhesive inflammation. There was fre¬ 
quently effused into the abdominal cavity a considerable quantity 
of turbid yellow-coloured fluid. 
2. The liver had become more voluminous than in its natural 
state—it was of a deep red-colour, gorged with blood, and was 
beginning to be softened. 
3. There was always much coagulable lymph surrounding the 
ductus choledochus, whether it had been tied or cut. In proportion 
to the degree in which the ligature had been detached was the 
quantity of coagulable lymph. It is extraordinary that the con¬ 
tinuity of the divided ductus choledochus was perfectly established 
in some cases. Brodie had observed the same thing. In conse¬ 
quence of this, the bile had pursued its usual course into the duo¬ 
denum. This circumstance may, perhaps, be easily explained. 
The lymph effused in consequence of the inflammation superven- 
