It has been shown previously that a liver injured by biliary disease is unable to concentrate bile acids in bile. Two of us in association with Nettrour and Bollman1 have demonstrated that the loss of this function parallels the degree of hepatic injury. While a normal liver was found to concentrate from 2,000 to 3,000 mg. of bile acids in each hundred cubic centimeters of bile, a severely injured liver did not concentrate more than 500 mg.
It was noted also that an inhibition in the concentration of bile acids by the liver followed operations on the biliary tract. The concentration of bile acids decreased progressively until the third or fourth day after operation and then gradually returned, reaching the same concentration on the ninth day as had existed immediately after operation. This was taken to represent the time at which the liver had completely recovered from the temporary