“The influence of bile upon blood-pressure”

There have not been very many studies regarding the influence of bile upon blood-pressure, and among these the statements are conflicting. Thus, Traube, who was the first to study it upon the kymograph, states that the intravenous injection of bile salts causes a considerable fall of the blood-pressure, while Edmunds states, in a recent report from Halliburton's laboratory, that the effect is an insignificant one.

Nearly all of the investigators of this question within the last fifty years have employed bile salts in their experiments. The results of the authors' experiments were derived from intravenous injections of filtered ox bile into rabbits. Of the several reasons for employing bile and not its salts, one should be mentioned: It is the belief of the authors that for biological phenomena we have as yet no right to assume that the sum of the known parts is equal to the whole.

In these experiments all degrees of effects have been observed, from an insignificant one to a considerable and even a fatal fall of blood-pressure. But these different degrees could be produced at will. Besides the quantity and the concentration of the bile, it was found that the rate at which it is introduced into the circulation is the most effective factor in the result. A quantity of bile of a given concentration, which, when injected slowly, would cause only an insignificant depression, brought about a tremendous fall of the blood-pressure when injected rapidly. By injecting normal salt solution speedily the fact has been established that neither the mechanical influence of the rate of injection nor the temperature of the injected fluid can have anything to do with the pronounced effect which is invariably produced by the rapid injection of bile.