í
i
H CL A N D U L A R O R G A N S a n d
of the Talvukr membranes, we cm fearcely doubt that the liquor of the abdomen
IS difcharged through thefe paffages.
4. From the quantity of liquor found within the abdomen both of the Ikatc
and of the florgeon. and its fait tafte, we fecm naturally led to fuppofe that a
great part of that hquor is taken in from the fea by the holes at the fide's of the
anus ; and tlrat the valvular membranes of thefe holes are intended to prevent
fohd bodies from getting in. Nay, we would conclude, with ffill greater probability,
that in the flurgeoa the holes at the fides of the anus were formed to
admit the water, and thofc that open into the pelves of the kidneys ferved to
difcharge it again.
5. But to tire above conclufions, I apprehend we ought to add, that a confiderablc
portion of the liquor we find in the abdomen is fccreted from the arte
ries, as it contains much lefs fait than the fea-water. Nay, perhaps we are not
to fuppofe that all its fait enters by thefe holes at tire fides of the anus fince we
have found a fimilar degree of faltnefs ¿in the liquor between the cranium and
brain; which, as no paffages are known to lead direcUy from the fea into the
cavity of the cranium, we mull conclude is fecreted from the arteries.
Afterwards when I come to treat of the lymphatic fyftem of filhes, I flrall
endeavour to point out the paffages by which the falt-water may readily enter
the hydraulic fyftem of thofe fiflies. •
T . III.
Of Liquors fecreted into the Organs of Digejlion.
^ S thefe animals are cold, it is more evident than in man, that tlie gaftric
hquor aSs as a mentlruum upon their food.
In .ai l^fjhem__the_ live^i s large, and of courfe the fecretion of bile copious
(,») ; and in all, orgahTari f „ w which pour out liquors fimilar, probably,
in their cffecls to thofe of our pancreatic liquor. In the Ikate, the pancreas
is fimilar to the human (n). In all the offeous fiftes, fo far as I recolka,
inftead of a pancreas, a number of inteftinula czca pour out their contents into
the duodenum. In the llurgeon, an organ is found in its internal ftruaure fimilar
to thefe inteftinula; but in its outward form refembling the pancreas of the
Ikate; and, which is curious, the whole of it is inclofed in a mufcle, evidently
intended to exprefs its contents (0).
Some fads alfo relating to the liver fecm to merit attention.
In liotes I wrote many years ago, I find the obfervation. That in the cat filli
about a dozen hepatic duds difcharge bile into the gall-bladder (p). In the eel
and falmon, fome of the hepatic duels open into the gall-bladder (j), and others
join with the cyftic duft. In the cod, where the gall-bladder is at a diftance
from
(.) S„ T.b. IX. K. L, M. N. ..J X. (,) T.b. IX. O. P. T.b, XIX.,
M S« Tib. X. • (yj Tab. XXVIII. C. H. I.
(=) Tab, IX. •
S E C R E T E D L IQJ JORS m F I 3 H E S. J5
from the liver, a number of hepatic du£ts open into the cyftic duel (r). To
thefe I would add an obfervation I have many years ago made in the common
domeftic cock,''that the trunk of the hepatic and cyftic du£ls have no communication
with each other in their courfe, and open feparately into the duodenum
; but that there are large hepato-cyftic ducts.
I obferve, that in all thofe animals the gall-bladder receives diredly or indireilly
duels from the liver. Hence we are led to the inference, that the eyftie
bile is not fecreted from the coats of the gall-bladder, as the late Albinus and
fome other eminent authors have fuppofed, but that it is derived from the
liver.
An attention to the effefls of cyftic calculi in their defcent through the cyftic
dud, ferves to corifirm this conclufion. For although it is perhaps merely poffible,
that when the gall-bladder contains a great quantity of bile, a calculus
defcending from it, and fticking in the cyftic dud, may occafion a fit of jaundice
; yet I have feveral times found them impafted in the cyiHc du£t of a dead
body without any jaundice having appeared before death: And in many other
cafes, I have obferved jaundice appear after the patient had been for feveral
days or weeks racked with pain; owing, I apprehend, unqueftionably to the
ftones having irritated the cyftic d u d before they got dawn to the common
dud.
Whereas if the gall-bladder fecreted the bile it contains, every obftrudion of
the cyftic d u d fliould create jaundice.
Nay, in a few cafes where ftones very completely obftruded the cyftic dud,
very little bile was found in the gall-bladder.
Laííly, after tying the cyftic d u d of a living pig, I did not find jaundice produced
; nor did the gall-bladder, after feveral days had elapfed, appear to be
more diftended than at the time of the experiment: yet jaundice appeared foon
after taking up the hepatic dud with a ligature, and the dud itfelf was obfer-
X'ed to be greatly dilated.
T . IV.
Cf the Secretions of the Male Organs of Generationi
' J ' H E ftrudurc of the milt in the offeous fiflies appears to be very fimple: but
in fome of tlie cartilaginous filhes, as the Ikate, the apparatus fecms ftiU
more complex than in man; for we obferve, in place of the tefticle, a fubftance
compofcd partly of white matter hke the milt, and partly of fmall fpherical bodies.
From thefe an epidydimis is produced, chiefly compofed of convoluted
tubes, which terminate in a ferpentine vas deferens; the under part of which is
greatly dilated, and forms, as in birds, a confiderable receptacle or veficula feminahs.
(j).
G Conti-
MS„T.b,X. E,E,O.G.H. WT»b.XI. I.K.L.M.N.0.P.CLK.S.