OBSERVATIONS ON SOME CAUSES OF GALL STONE FORMATION : I. EXPERIMENTAL CHOLELITHIASIS IN THE ABSENCE OF STASIS, INFECTION, AND GALL BLADDER INFLUENCES.

Gall stones frequently form in dogs intubated for the collection of bile under sterile conditions, in the absence of stasis and of gall bladder influence. The stones consist almost entirely of two substances-calcium carbonate and calcium bilirubinate-and they are remarkably uniform in character, as would follow from the limiting conditions of their development. They are not the result of bile loss, for similar ones may be recovered from the wall of glass tubes interpolated in ducts with intestinal connection undisturbed. The study of them has brought out evidence on the general problem of cholelithiasis. Some factors in their causation and that of gall stones as a class will be considered in succeeding papers.