Volume 1

A clinical treatise on diseases of the liver / by Fried. Theod. Frerichs ; translated by Charles Murchison.

  • Frerichs, Friedrich Theodor, 1819-1885.
Date:
1860-1861
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A clinical treatise on diseases of the liver / by Fried. Theod. Frerichs ; translated by Charles Murchison. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    veins, and of the minute bile ducts upon the secreting cells, being largest, when the pressure on the sides of the veins is least, and when that on the side of the ducts is greatest. The biliary acids which thus enter the blood, or which are re-absorbed from the intes- tine, are supposed to undergo certain changes from Oxydation, and may thus account for the large quantity of taurine which has been found in the healthy lung, and for the pigments wliich are naturally voided in the urine. When, however, anything interferes with these normal metamorphoses in the blood, as when this fluid becomes contaminated by the purulent infection, or by any other poison, it is supposed, that the complete metamorphosis of the colourless bile into urinary pigments is arrested, and that the intermediate sub- stance, bile-pigment, is formed in the blood, so as to colour the various tissues and secretions. The arrested metamorphosis of the biliary acids, under such circumstances, is thought to be analogous to the arrested metamorphosis of the sugar formed in the liver, which leads to diabetes. This view as to the origin of jaundice is supported by two experi- ments, tending to show that the colourless bihary acids may become converted into bile pigment. 1. The colouring-matter of bile may be formed artificially out of compounds of the biliary acids with soda. If the glycho-cholate or tauro-cholate of soda be digested for a long time, at an ordinary temperature, with concentrated sulphuric acid, the solution gradually assumes several different colours, and after a certain time, on the addition of water, a flaky precipitate, resem- bling the colouring-matter of bile, is produced. 2. Prerichs found, that on injecting ox-bile, entirely freed from its colouring- matter and mucus, into the veins of dogs, the urine afterwards secreted became deeply coloured with a substance, which was ascertained on chemical analysis to be bile-pigment. None of the biliary acids injected were found in the urine, and, indeed, Frerichs denies that these acids are ever found in the urine along with büe-pigment, although they are sometimes present in urine having no jaundiced hue. From these experiments, which were