Evening star., 1939-04-26
Bile May Prevent
Sprouting Of Seeds,
Doctors Are Told
Bladder AiIment Often
Due to Other Infection,
Medical Society Hears

Bile, fat-digesting fluid produced
by the liver, may also be the sub
stance which prevents the digestive
tract from becoming flower gar
den.
Experiments suggesting this func-
ton, hitherto unsuspected. were re-
ported to the Medical Society Of
the District of Columbia at its an
nual scientific assembly, last night by
DR.. Martin E. Rehfuss of Jefferson
Medical College, Philadelphia.
The greenish bile is divided into
three fractions-the new bile in the
liver, that in the gall bladder which
acts as a storage reservoir and that
in the intestine and stomach. The
liver bile always has been assumed
to be very poisonous to animals and
dogs can be killed by injecting it into
their blood streams.
Kills Plants in Aquarium.
Or. Rehfuss has found, he said,
that when it is placed in an aquari-
UNI, it will not injure fish and water
insects, but will rapidly kill the
common aquarium plants. This in
dicates a selective action against
plant life. Most seeds contained in
the food pass through the body
much too rapidly to allow them to
germinate, but it never has been
clearly understood, DR.. Rehfuss said,
why those which happen to become
clogged do not sprout.
Inflammation of the storage bag,
the gall bladder Dr. Rehfuss said. is
by far the most common digestive
tract disease in persons over 40. 1t
often is accompanied by production
of gallstones. Frequently the only
successful treatment is surgery. APP
parently person can get along Just
as we'll without a gall bladder, since
the LIQUID continues to come from
the liver.
His experiments with rabbits ex-
tending over 10 years, DR.. Rehfuss
said, now show that the gall bladder
itself never is the primary offender
but that the infection probably al
ways comes from some focus in the
body, such as teeth or throat.
Tests Made on Rabbits.
Gall bladder inflammation of ex-
actly the same sort as that in hu-
mans can be produced in his rabbits
by injections of streptococci, sta
phlycocci or typhoid bacilli. With a
single strain of streptococcus iso-
lated from human patient he Is
able to produce the disease in so per
cent of his animals. He urged that
search for infection foci be the first
step in treating patients. There IS
usually considerable improvement
after the source is cleaned up, ne
said, while obviously removal of the
gall bladder itself has not stopped
the damage going on in the body.
The significance of the disease, DR..
Rehfuss said, lies largely in its still
mysterious side effects. Gall blad-
der patients develop unstable nerv-
GUS systems, are unable to sleep.
have curious skin eruptions, develop
all sorts of psycho-neuroses and
sometimes become actually insane.
They are the most sensitive of all
persons to the various food allergies.
Stiffness Of the joints, which comes
with bad weather and constant
headaches, may be attributed to the
same source. In his rabbits this
stiffness sometimes progresses to
paralysis. r.
The hillary tract, DR.. Rehfuss said,
remains one Of the least-know areas
in medicine. Bile itself Is a largely
unknown substance, Of such chemi-
cal complexity that nobody yet has
been able to analyze It, y.
Looking Inside the Bedy.
Demonstrations of the newest
forms Of visual apparatus for look
ing at the inside Of the CASTRO
intestinal tract were given for the
local physicians. These instruments
are the esophagoscope. demonstrated
by DR.. David Davis; the flexible
tube gastroscope. shown by DR.. Fred
A. j. Geier; the prothoscope and
hgmoidoscope, shown by DR.. B. F.
Dean. and the peritoneoscope,
shown by DR.. j. Russell Verbryke, jr.
Following the scientific session
the society held a stag party at
the Mayflower, at which moving pic
lures of Mexican bull fight taken
by DR.. r. Lyman Sexton were shown,
after which prominent local doctors
staged a representation of Ferdi-
nand the Bull.
The postgraduate course In gas
troenterology was resumed this
morning. with papers presented by
Drs. Daniel F. Lynch. P. p. Vinson,
r. Lyman Sexton, William Gerry
Morgan, Camp Stanley, j. Russell
Verbryke, jr., and G. r. Conklin..