ORDINARY SEBACEOUS MATTER. 65 



considerably increased in quantity, those of Lutz give the 

 best idea of what may be supposed to be nearly its ordinary 

 composition. This observer analyzed the secretion in a case 

 of general hypertrophy of the sebaceous system. The fluid 

 which he extracted from the dilated glands was milky- white, 

 and of about the consistence, when cold, of wax. The mean 

 of eight analyses of this fluid was as follows : 1 



Composition of Sebaceous Matter. 



"Water 357 



Oleine 270 



Margarine 135 



Butyric acid and butyrate of soda 3 



Caseine 129 



Albumen 2 



Gelatine 87 



Phosphate of soda and traces of phosphate of lime 7 



Chloride of sodium 5 



Sulphate of soda 5 



1,000 



This analysis gives the proportions of animal and solid 

 matters, desiccated in a current of dry air. Eobin, who has 

 reviewed at considerable length the analytical process em- 

 ployed by Lutz, regards the matter supposed to be either 

 caseine or some analogous albuminoid substance, as the or- 

 ganic matter of the epithelial cells that exist in such great 

 numbers in distended sebaceous glands. He regards the 

 weight of the substances designated under the names of al- 

 bumen, caseine, and gelatine, with a certain quantity of the 

 water driven off by desiccation, as representing the proportion 

 of epithelium. 8 This view is very reasonable, as the mi- 

 croscope always shows in these collections great numbers 



1 LUTZ, De Fhypertrophie generate du, systems sebace These, No. 65, Paris, 

 1860, p. 18. The proportions of oleine and margarine are given on p. 20. 



2 ROBTX. Lerons sur les humeurs, Paris, 1867, p. 599. 



5 



