BILE, the most important secretion of the liver. It is formed directly by the liver cells, largely from the blood, is collected by the bile ducts, and discharged through the hepatic ducts. Most of the bile is stored in the gall-bladder, from which it is discharged in man by the cystic duct and the common duct into the upper portion of the duodenum, four inches below the lower end of the stomach. As first secreted in man it is a clear limpid fluid, but in the gall bladder it is mixed with mucin and becomes darker, varying from dark brown to greenish, according to the amount of oxidation of the bile pigments. The bile of the carnivora is usually yellowish in tint, that of the grass-eaters green ish, but the colors vary widely, dependent on the oxidation.
Bile is an alkaline fluid with a bitter taste, and contains water, bile acids, bile pigments, traces of lecithin, cholesterin, soaps and fats, and mineral salts. The proportions of these are very variable. The acids are known as glycocholic acid, yielding glycocoll and cholalic acid, and taurocholic acid, yielding taurine and cholalic acid. The pigments are two, bilirubin and biliverdin, and the color is a compound of the colors of these two and varies with the pro portion of each from reddish-brown to grass green. They are thought to be derived from the hemoglobin of the blood. The functions of bile are not clearly understood, but it seems to aid in the digestion of fats; it is an important organ of excretion, getting rid of many broken down products of metabolism, notably the cholesterin and lecithin. It is an efficient antiseptic, reducing the amount of ex cessive fermentation in the intestines, it aids in peristalsis and thus overcomes constipation, and perhaps has other functions connected with pro teid digestion. The amount of bile secreted
daily varies from 25 to 35 ounces, its secretion is more or less uniform, but at the digestive periods the stored bile of the gall-bladder is added to the intestinal contents. Gall-stones re sult from concentration of the bile in the gall bladder. They are also formed as a process of infection of the gall-bladder that creeps up from the duodenum. Gall-stones following ty phoid fever are very common, and are probably formed in this manner. As a result of inflam mation of the stomach and duodenum the com mon duct sometimes is inflamed and its walls swollen. This prevents the escape of bile into the intestines, and the bile pigments are taken up by the blood and cause the familiar symptom of jaundice (q.v.). The specific gravity of bile is 1.026. The bile of salt-water fish contains potash; that of land and fresh-water animals contains soda. Biliousness, so called, is rarely an affection of the liver, but much more often a mild inflammation of the stomach and in testines, with catarrhal obstruction of the com mon duct that is not severe enough to dam back the bile entirely. Clayey stools are usually indicative of deficient bile-elimination. The best-known stimulants of bile-formation and bile-elimination are heat and the biliary acids themselves. The vast majority of the number less patent liver-pills on the market have no influence on the liver whatever • they are simply cathartics and empty the bowels. Consult Schaefer,