142 EXCRETION. 



the sweat/ and the compounds of sudoric acid are probably 

 excrementitious in their character, although they have not 

 yet been detected in the blood or in any of the tissues. The 

 quantity of urea, under ordinary conditions, is not large ; but 

 it is well known that its proportion in the sweat is very 

 much increased when there is deficient elimination by the 

 kidneys. The sudoric acid, obtained by decomposition of 

 the sudorates of soda and of potassa, is a nitrogenized sub- 

 stance, with a formula, according to Favre, a who first de- 

 scribed it, of C 10 H 8 O 13 !N". The nature of the volatile acid 

 has not yet been determined. The fatty matters are proba- 

 bly produced by the sebaceous glands, and the ordinary 

 nitrogenized matters are derived from the epidermic scales. 

 With regard to the inorganic constituents, there is no great 

 interest attached to any but the chloride of sodium, which 

 exists in a proportion many times greater than that of all 

 the other inorganic matters combined. 



Peculiarities of the Sweat in Certain Parts. In the 

 axilla, the inguino-scrotal region in the male, and the ingui- 

 no-vulvar region in the female, and between the toes, the 

 sweat always has a peculiar odor, more or less marked, 

 which, in some persons, is excessively disagreeable. Donne 



1 Fourcroy, according to Berzelius, first indicated the presence of urea in the 

 sweat of the horse ; and afterward Landerer, Schottin (in cases of renal disease), 

 Favre, Funcke, and others detected it in the sweat of the human subject. 

 Funcke obtained it in a much larger proportion than is given by Favre. The 

 presence of uric acid has never been determined. 



FOURCROY, quoted by BERZELIUS, Traite de chimie, Paris, 1833, tome vii. 



Berzelius does not give any distinct reference to this observation, and it is not 

 to be found in the earlier works of Fourcroy. 



LANDERER, Decouverte de Puree dans la transpiration. Journal de chimie 



medicate, Paris, 1848, serie iii., tome iv., p. 475. 



SCHOTTIN, Ueber die chemischen Bestandtheile des Schweisses. Archiv fur 



physiologische Heilkunde, Stuttgart, 1852, Bd. xi., S. 87. 



FUNCKE, Bietrdge zur Kenntniss der Schweisssecretion. MOLESCHOTT'S Un- 



tersucJiengen, Frankfurt a. M., 1858, Bd. iv., S. 56. In one observation Funcke 

 found 0-112, and in another, 0-199 per cent, of urea in the sweat. 



2 FAVRE, loc. cit. 



