Abstract
I shall first give a brief sketch of the progress of opinion on the function of the gallbladder. In 1893, Doyon1carried out experiments on the gallbladder of dogs in situ in a manner which convinced him that there were definite contractions of the organ, and that these contractions were increased by stimulation of the sympathetic nerves. Later Courtade and Guyon2demonstrated that the vagus also contained motor fibers to this organ. In 1905, Bainbridge and Dale,3two of England's foremost physiologists, published some conclusive observations, "The gallbladder shows rhythmic variations in volume. The rhythm is increased in extent after the removal of tonic inhibitory impulses. The normal effect of stimulation of the sympathetic nerve supply to the muscular coat of the gallbladder, whether by electrical excitation of the right splanchnic or by intravenous injection of adrenalin, is relaxation. The apparently motor effects first described by Doyon are in all

This publication has 1 reference indexed in Scilit: