A treatise on diet : with a view to establish on practical grounds a system of rules for the prevention and cure of the diseases incident to a disordered state of the digestive functions / by J.A. Paris.

  • Paris, John Ayrton, 1785-1856.
Date:
1826
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A treatise on diet : with a view to establish on practical grounds a system of rules for the prevention and cure of the diseases incident to a disordered state of the digestive functions / by J.A. Paris. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)

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    41. This substance, to which Thenard has given the name of picromel, possesses the property of rendering the resin of bile easily soluble in water. Three parts are sufficient to one of the resin. The characters of picromel are, that it is insoluble in water and alcohol, and incapable of being crystallized; that it precipitates nitrate of mercury, and acetate of lead with excess of oxide; and that it forms, with resin and a minute quantity of soda, a triple compound, which is not decomposable by acids, nor by alkaline or earthy salts. Chevallier has shown that it exists in human bile taken from the gall-bladder after death, but he could not detect it in bile discharged by vomiting.* It has been analyzed by Dr. Thomson, who obtained products, indi- cating five atoms of carbon + three of oxygen + one of hydro- gen.t 42. Besides picromel, there exists a peculiar principle in bile, to which the name of yellow matter has been given. It is pre- cipitated by acids. It appears to be the source of those concre- tions which form in the gall-bladders of oxen, and which are valuable as a pigment, on account of the extreme beauty of their colour. 43. The composition of ox bile has been determined as fol- lows :— Water 700 Resin 24 Picromel 60.5 Yellow Matter 4 but variable. Soda 4 Phosphate of Soda 2 Muriate of Soda 3.2 Sulphate of Soda ....... 0.8 Phosphate of lime 1.2 Oxide of iron a trace. 800 44. In analysing the bile of other animals, a similarity of composition was discovered, which little accords with the known diversity of their aliments; thus, that of the dog, the sheep, the cat, and the calf, was found to be precisely similar. The bile of the pig, on the contrary, contained neither yellow matter nor picromel. It consisted merely of resin in great quantity, of soda, and of salts, the nature of which has not been ascertained. It was entirely decomposed by acids, and even by the weakest —the acetic. 45. Berzelius is not disposed to regard the peculiar matter, which is considered to be resin, as strictly falling under that denomination: he says it is precipitable by acids; and the pre- cipitate is a compound of the acid employed with the green * Ann. de Chim. et Phys. ix. 400. f Ann. of Phil. xiv. 70.