A cholagogue is a substance that is purported by
humoral practitioners to encourage the discharge of
bile
Bile (from Latin ''bilis''), or gall, is a dark-green-to-yellowish-brown fluid produced by the liver of most vertebrates that aids the digestion of lipids in the small intestine. In humans, bile is produced continuously by the liver (liver b ...
from the system,
purging
A purge is the forcible removal of undesirable people from political activity, etc.
Purge or The Purge may also refer to:
* Purge (occupied Japan), the forcible removal of undesirable Japanese from public service during occupation of Japan
* G ...
it downward. Deployment is no longer recommended because the biliary purge, like the traditional kidney purge, can cause pancreatic problems.
In Patrick O'Brian's ''
Post Captain
Post-captain is an obsolete alternative form of the rank of captain in the Royal Navy.
The term served to distinguish those who were captains by rank from:
* Officers in command of a naval vessel, who were (and still are) addressed as captain ...
'' (Ch. 10), which is set in the Napoleonic era,
Stephen Maturin
Stephen Maturin () is a fictional character in the Aubrey–Maturin series of novels by Patrick O'Brian. The series portrays his career as a physician, naturalist and spy in the Royal Navy during the Napoleonic Wars, and the long pursuit of h ...
, one of the book's main characters (who is also a physician, naturalist and spy) sits in the snug of the Rose and Crown in
Deal, Kent
Deal is a coastal town in Kent, England, which lies where the North Sea and the English Channel meet, north-east of Dover and south of Ramsgate. It is a former fishing, mining and garrison town whose history is closely linked to the anchor ...
, and drinks a "good" tea described as an "unrivalled cholagogue".
Cyclovalone is a choleretic and cholagogic agent.
References
* Chambers, Ephraim, ed. (1728). ''
Cyclopaedia, or an Universal Dictionary of Arts and Sciences'' (first ed.), ''s.v.'' "Cholagogue".
*''Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary'', 1913 Edition.
*''Patrick O'Brian ''Post Captain'', 2002 paperback edition, page 315.
External links
*
Laxatives
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