The Body: A Guide for Occupants

by Bill Bryson

lies between the 9th and the 11th ribs—though in fact all those numbers but the last two are merely averages. Just beneath the liver and also closely associated with it is the gallbladder. It is a curious organ in that many animals have gallbladders and many do not. Giraffes, oddly, sometimes have gallbladders and sometimes don’t. In humans, the gallbladder stores bile from the liver and passes it on to the intestines. (“Gall” is an old word for “bile.”) The chemistry can go wrong for a variety of reasons, resulting in gallstones. Gallstones are a common complaint and were traditionally said to be most often found among women who were “fat, fair, fertile, and forty,” according to a well-known but, I’m told, highly inaccurate mnemonic among doctors. As many as a quarter of adults have gallstones, but usually don’t know it.