tial.

3. When bile is missing in the bowels (and flowing out of the body by a fistula), the principal cause of death is the loss of fat and of albuminous matters. We will add to this last conclusion that, according to Dr. BrownSéquard, it would be very important to repeat the experiments of Blondlot, Bidder, and others, in trying to repair by food the loss of certain materials of the body which go out with bile, and which are not present in sufficient amount in meat and bread. Among these materials sulphur is the principal, and it would be easy to give a great deal of it by feeding the animals upon eggs and other kinds of food which contain more sulphur than meat and bread. This view of Dr. Brown-Séquard is grounded not only on the fact that bile flowing out of the body takes away a great quantity of sulphur and other principles, but also that when bile passes freely into the bowels, its elements, and particularly soda and sulphur, according to Liebig, are absorbed.-A question which is intimately connected with that we have examined already concerning the importance of bile, is whether this liquid is to be considered as an excrement or as a useful secretion. It appears to be certain that some, at least, of the principles of bile are absorbed in the bowels, if not most of them, as Liebig thought, and that therefore bile cannot be said to be entirely an excrement. However, some of the compound constituents of bile are transformed in the bowels, as Mulder and Frerichs have shown, and they are expelled with the fecal matters. We are consequently led to conclude that bile is only partly an excrement, if it is so at all. We say if it is so, because the part of it which is expelfed with the fecal matters may have some use before being expelled.—The fact that there is a very great quantity of bile secreted in a day throws some light on the question of its reabsorption. Blondlot says that a dog of a medium size secretes from 40 to 50 grammes (nearly 14 ounce) a day. Nasse and Platner speak of 200 grammes (63 ounces) as the secretion of bile in a dog weighing 10 kilogrammes (22 lbs.), which gives a proportion of 1 to 50. Bidder and Schmidt have found that the quantity of bile varies extremely with the species of the animal experimented upon. While for each 2 pounds of the body of a cat there is a secretion of 14 grammes (ounce) of bile in a day, in the dog there is almost 20 grammes (ounce), in the sheep 25 grammes (ounce), and in the rabbit the enormous quantity of 136 grammes (4 ounces). In weighing the solid residue of the fecal matters of a dog for many days, and comparing the result obtained in so doing to the weight of the solid residue of bile during the same time, Bidder and Schmidt have found that the two quantities were nearly alike, so that necessarily a good part of the principles of bile is absorbed in the bowels. They have also ascertained that almost all the sulphur of the bile is absorbed. They think that only a small quantity of bile, trans

formed into an insoluble substance (dyslysine), remains unabsorbed and goes out with the excrements.--Sylvius de la Boë, and afterward Boerhaave, imagined that bile is employed to neutralize the product of gastric digestion, chyme, which is very acid. This view has been considered quite wrong by almost every one, but Lehmann justly remarks that there is some truth in it, and he affirms that bile certainly contributes to the neutralization of the free acids of chyme. Bile no doubt acts as a solvent of fat, at least by one of its constituents, the choleate of soda, as has been shown by Strecker, although Bidder and Schmidt have found no difference in the quantity of fat absorbed, whether the bowels contained bile or not. But their mode of deciding this question is open to many objections. It has been said that bile prevents putrefaction taking place in chyme, or at least in fecal matters. Most of the recent experimenters agree with Tiedemann and Gmelin in admitting this influence of bile. Dr. Porchat has observed, in children in whom bile could not pass in the bowels on account of the occlusion of the bile duct, that the fecal matters were putrefied, as Bidder and Schmidt, Frerichs, and others, have observed in animals in which they had tied this duct. However, it seems that in some cases the absence of bile is not sufficient to allow putrefaction to take place in the fecal matters, as Blondlot says that he has observed no difference between these matters in dogs in good health and in those operated upon. The water contained in bile helps in the dissolution of certain elements of chyme, and in so doing renders their absorption more easy.-Bile acts as an excitant on the mucous membrane of the bowels, to produce reflex contractions, favoring in this way the propulsion of food and of fecal matters. According to Schiff, bile produces contractions in the intestinal villi. It is said also that bile increases the secretion of the intestinal mucus, and prevents constipation. All these views may be partly true, but it is certain that without bile the expulsion of fecal matters takes place regularly. -Many physiologists think that bile, like most of the secretions, contains some effete matters which cannot be of any use in the blood, or which might be deleterious. In opposition to the views of those who admit that the secretion of bile is for the purpose of purifying the blood, and who still regard this liquid merely as an effete carbonaceous matter which the respiration has not removed, Lehmann says that the bile--a secretion by no means poor in nitrogen and hydrogen--is not separated in any increased quantity when the process of oxida tion in the lungs happens to be disturbed; that there are no pathologico-anatomical facts which favor the view that the liver can act vicariously for the lungs; and, lastly, that the separation of carbon by the liver, as compared with that by the lungs, is so trifling, as shown by Bidder and Schmidt, that the liver can hardly

BILIOUS FEVER, a term heretofore applied to cases of intermittent and remittent fever. Its use was based on the conjecture that the disease involved, as an essential pathological condition, a superabundance of bile. The name "bilious" has also been applied to many affections which, in like manner, were supposed to depend more or less on an excessive secretion of bile. At the present time the term, as applied either to diseases or symptoms of disease, is not much used by medical writers. It is, however, a popular term as applied to disorders of the digestive system. An acute form of dyspepsia is popularly known as a "bilious attack," and this name is not unfrequently used by physicians. (See STOMACH, DISEASES OF.)

BILL, the proposed form of a legislative act or statute, while in the course of legislation, and before it becomes a law. In American legislation a joint resolution or resolve is also properly speaking a bill. A public bill is one which pertains to matters in which the whole community is interested. A private bill is one for the benefit or particular interest of individuals, or distinct bodies of individuals, as a single person, or a town, or a county. In ancient times the chief purpose of summoning the commons to parliament was that they should furnish supplies to the crown; but being convened, they took occasion to submit petitions on various subjects to the sovereign, and his answers to them, made with the concurrence of the lords and prelates, together with the petitions, were entered on the rolls of parliament, and at the close of the session the judges or others of the king's council put these matters into the form of an act. But it often happened that by additions to or modifications of the matter submitted, or of the crown's answer to it, the actual purpose of the parties to the proceeding was defeated. In the time of Henry V. remonstrances were made by the commons touching these evils. They demanded that the statutes should be made according to the tenor of their petitions, and in this reign or that of Henry VI. the practice was established of presenting the subject to which the approval of the sovereign was solicited in the form of a bill. Ever since that time it has been a rule of the English constitutional law not only that nothing shall be enacted without the consent of the commons, but also that, although the crown may reject or assent at pleasure to bills in parliament, it may not alter them. But if the crown is specially interested in a bill, its assent to it must be procured at some stage of its progress before its passage by the houses; and if the bill interferes with the royal patronage in any way, the royal assent to it must be had before it can proceed at all. The tenor of bills pertaining to attainders or for granting titles must be communicated to the sovereign before they are

mons will not entertain a supply bill unless it is first communicated to it by the crown; and a bill for a pardon is regularly first signed by the king before it proceeds at all, and it is read only once in each of the houses. But in general bills are entertained by one house or the other in the first instance and independently of the crown, though they cannot become laws until they have received its assent. Practically assent is never withheld, and it is given either by the sovereign in person in the house of lords, the commons being called into that house for the occasion, or more usually it is signified by the royal commission. For the most part bills may originate in either house indifferently, but bills for supply must begin in the commons, and bills relating to the peerage, or to restitution of blood, must begin in the lords. In the commons again certain bills must originate in the committee of the whole house, such bills for example as those for granting money, or those relating to trade, or to the alteration of the laws concerning religion. But, with these and a few other exceptions, any member of the commons may ask leave to introduce a public bill. If the motion prevails, it is ordered that the bill be prepared and brought in by the mover or by a select committee to whom the matter is referred. In the lords any member may offer a bill without first obtaining leave. In either house a public bill goes regularly through five stages, namely: the first reading, the second reading, the commitment, the third reading, and finally the motion for its passage. The bill is usually first read when it is presented. It is not common to debate it at this stage, though, if it appears to be of a mischievous or extraordinary character, it may be discussed then. The first discussion of the bill usually takes place on the second reading. The commitment is a reference to a committee, either of the whole house, or if the subject of it is of a technical nature, or for any reason it is desired to have special information about it, the bill goes to a special committee, and in that case it must still go to the committee of the whole house before it passes to a third reading. In this committee the whole bill is read and considered clause by clause, and approved as it is drawn, or amended, as may be decided. The chairman of the committee then reports the bill as approved to the house itself, and it is then discussed again clause by clause, and the amendments made by the committee, or any new amendments proposed by the house, are debated. After the consideration of the bill upon the report of the committee of the whole house, it advances to the third reading. In the house of commons no substantial amendment can then be made. After the bill has been read for the third time the vote is taken on its passage, and when it is passed and the title is added, it is sent to the other house for its concurrence; and there it goes through the same course as in the commons. If the lords pass the bill, they commu

nicate their assent to the commons, and unless | it be a supply bill it remains with the upper house. If the lords reject the bill, it fails to become a law; and if they amend it, they send it with their amendments to the commons, who if they accept them signify their concurrence to the upper house, or if not they may ask a conference on the bill. When the two houses have finally agreed upon a bill, it is deposited with the lords to receive the royal assent, though if it is a supply bill it remains with or is sent to the commons. Substantially the same course of proceeding here detailed is followed in the case of a public bill which originates with the lords.-With reference to private bills the procedure is in some respects different, especially in the earlier stages. By certain standing orders bills relating to local improvements or to public works like railways, involving condemnation of lands and other property, or to municipal regulations, cannot be introduced except on petitions which have been for a certain period deposited in the private bill office, and after certain notices have been given to persons whose interests are to be affected. Officers called examiners inquire into and report upon the regularity of these preliminary proceedings before the promoters of such a bill can introduce it. The bill is after its introduction referred to a special committee, who inquire further into the merits of the proposed enactment. Petitions against the bill may be presented, and the remonstrants and petitioners are heard by the committee, who report the results to the house at different stages of the bill.-The course of proceeding upon bills in our legislative assemblies is very similar to that observed in the British parliament, upon the practice and usages of which indeed our parliamentary law is modelled. In our legislatures bills are presented without any special formality. A member who wishes to introduce one, whether reported by a committee or otherwise, makes a suggestion to that effect in the house, and the bill is received if no objection is made. In congress one day's notice of the presentment of the bill must be given. Bills which have originated in one house are presented by it to the other by message. By an old rule of congress it is declared that the first reading of a bill is for information, and if opposition be made to it the question is put whether the bill shall be rejected; if that is decided in the negative, or if there is no opposition to the reception of the bill, it goes to a second reading. The second reading usually takes place at some later day than that of the first reading, but in cases of urgency not only both these readings but all the proceedings on the bill may take place on the same day. The second reading is the most important stage. The principles and merits of the bill are then thoroughly discussed. Then follows the commitment, public bills being referred to the committee of the whole house and private bills being sent to special committees.

The object of the commitment is to put the bill into the form which will effectuate its object. In this stage it receives amendments or additions, amendments being changes in the matter of the bill as it is proposed, and additions being substantive interpolations in the form of qualifying or restrictive clauses, such as provisos. The report of the committee either approves the bill as it is proposed, or returns it with such amendments or additions ; and it is presented to the house by its chairman. The next proceeding is engrossment of the bill preparatory to the third reading. The engrossment of bills has been discontinued in the British parliament since 1849, but it is still practised in congress and in many of our states. The proceedings in committee of the whole house and on the third reading are substantially like those in the English parliament. In some of the states it is ordered by constitutional provisions that the bill be read three times, and in others that the readings be on three different days before it can become a law, though in some instances this requirement may be dispensed with by a vote of a certain proportion of the members of the legislature. It has been mentioned that money bills in England must originate in the house of commons. A provision of a similar character, requiring such bills to proceed from the lower or popular branch of the legislature, exists in the constitution of the United States, and in many of our state constitutions; but it does not exist in those of New York, Connecticut, Illinois, Michigan, California, and several others.-The practice in this country with reference to bills after they have passed both houses is regulated by the rules of these bodies in the several states. The practice in congress, which is followed in many of the states substantially, is governed by a rule adopted in 1794. After passing both houses the bill is engrossed on parchment, then certified by the clerk of the house in which it originated, and then delivered to the committee on enrolled bills for examination. Enrolled bills after their examination are signed by the speaker of the house and by the president of the senate, and entered on the journal of each house. The committee then presents the bill to the executive for his approval. There is ordinarily no time prescribed in which the bill is to be presented to the executive, and it may be immediately upon the passage of the bill and before the close of the session. If the executive does not approve the bill, he is required to return it with his objections to the house in which it originated within a certain number of days, and if it is not returned within that time it becomes a law as if he had signed it, though in some of the states it is provided that the omission on the part of the executive shall not render the bill a law if the house adjourns within a certain period after the bill is sent to him. The period within which the executive must sign the bill varies in the different states. In many it is