4(5 On the Steeping of Ifbol, aiid the Injluence 



and that all the antlent writers who treat of the medical 

 pr^^pertics of the cesype, and its fostid smell, agree that after 

 a very long period it changes to an agreeable odour, resem- 

 bling that of ambergris. 



Alcohol treated with the animal matter takes up a re- 

 sinous substance of a pale yellow colour, which is precipi- 

 tated in white flakes, of a light yellow, by water and by 

 acids. 



Being desirous of attacking the yellow extremities of the 

 parts of the wool from under the belly and the thighs of 

 the animal, he treated them with alcohol, quicklime, and 

 caustic alkalies ; but none of these ,agents was capable of 

 changing their colour. It appears that the grease accumu- 

 lated^in those parts, together with the action of the air, 

 produces a very intimate combination, which cannot be de- 

 stroyed without injuring their texture. 



Equal portions of the grease, Nos. 1, £, S, at the same 

 deo-ree of concentration, were filtered and evaporated nearly 

 . to dryness in capsules of porcelain. No. 1, furnished twice 

 as much matter as the two others ; it strongly attracted the 

 humidity of the air, and became ahiiost entirely liquefied 

 by it. Acids acted on ail three in the same manner, pro- 

 ducinof' a very decisive effervescence. After burning them 

 in a crucible of platina, he separated from ail three, by di- 

 stilled water or l^y nitric acid, potash slightly carbonated, 

 or nitrate of potash, the weight of which was more consi- 

 derable in No. 1. than in 2 and 3, which exhibited no very 

 perceptible difference. 



These experiments, by demonstrating that the grease and 

 the potash, one of its component principles, increase or de- 

 crease in the Merinos, according to their state of health or 

 of disease, enable us likewise to form a judgment of the 

 immediate relation of this substance to these different states, 

 as also of its influence on the beauty of their products. For 

 it would be a C-Teat mistake to look upon it as prejudicial to 

 thenj, when we know that the augmentation of this secre- 

 tion is incapable of altering the health of the animals, as 

 remarked bv Messrs. Gillert, Tessier, and Huzard, in their 

 observations on the growth of long wools ; and when the 

 most celebrated natpvalists agree in rejecting every method 

 tending to dcpnve them of it, such as exposing them to 

 long rains, and 'washing their backs. Besides, does not 

 the Merino, which is the most distinguished of all the spe- 

 cies of this genus for the fineness and the beauty of its rich 

 fleece, yield the ffreatest quantity of grease ? and do we not 

 •.ee this substance diminishing v/ith the quality of the wool, 



and 



