376 
SOCIETY MEETINGS, 
chief function of the secretion of bile is purification of the blood by ultimate excretion 
of effete matter, yet there are many reasons for believing that it is in the intestines 
where it performes its most important function in the process of digestion. In nearly 
all animals the bile is discharged, not through an excretory duct communicating with 
the external surface nor with a simple reservoir as most secretions, but it is made to pass 
direct into the intestinal canal, where it mingles with the chyme directly after it leaves 
the stomach, an arrangement the constancy of which clearly indicates that the bile has 
some important relations with the food with which it is thus mixed. A similar indi¬ 
cation of its digestive properties is furnished by the fact that the secretion of bile is 
most active, and the quantity discharged into the intestines, much greater during di¬ 
gestion than at any other time, although, this activity may, in part be due to the fact 
that a greater quantity of blood is sent to the liver through the portal vein at this time, 
and that this blood contains some of the materials of the food absorbed from the 
stomach and intestines which may need be excreted either temporarily, to be after¬ 
wards reabsorbed, or permanently. 
Bile is a somewhat viscid fluid of a yellow or greenish color, it has a strong bitter 
taste, and when fresh has scarcely any preceptible odor, it has a neutral and slightly 
alkaline reaction, its color and degree of consistency vary considerably, apparently 
independent of pathological changes in the liver. The saline or inorganic constituents 
of the bile are similar to those found in most of the other secreted fluids, the neutral 
phosphates, carbonates of sodium and potassium do not exist in the fluid state, but are 
formed during the act of incineration and are found in the ashes. Oxide of iron is also 
said to be common constituent of the ashes of bile, copper is usually found in healthy 
bile and continually in biliary calculi. 
Regarding the functions discharged by the bile in digestion, it may be said that it 
assists in emulsifying the fatty portions of the food, and thus rendering it capable of 
being absorbed by the lacteals. It has considerable antiseptic properties and may pre¬ 
vent decomposition, purification and fermentation of food during its passage through 
the intestines. It also acts as a natural laxative by promoting an increased secretion 
of the intestinal glands and by stimulating the peistaltic action of the bowels, 
thereby assisting them in the propustion of their contents. 
Let us now for a moment consider in what manner we can arrive at a conclusion 
as to how we can account for the fact that intestinal disturbances are the result of 
morphological changes in the hepatic gland. As we have already stated the liver is a 
very large organ and has some very important functions to perform of which perhaps 
the most important is the secretion of bile; bile therefore being a very essential sub¬ 
stance in the process of digestion, it is perfectly plausible that an insufficiency or a pre¬ 
ponderance of this important fluid, will and does at once lead to intestinal derange¬ 
ments. 
Being fully cognizant of the fact that one of the chief functions of bile is to act as 
an antiseptic, by preventing the food with which it comes in contact, from undergoing 
the processes of decomposition and fermentation, we can readily see that an insuffic¬ 
iency of this very important material will allow the the ingesta or contents of the in¬ 
testines to become septic, putrid or fermentitious, a condition which is frequently 
demonstrated by the foetid aroma which always attends the foecal matter of these cases. 
Again bile being a natural carminative, an insufficiency of it will frequently be shown 
