464 MORBID PRODUCTS. 



ultimately fused; it dissolved in nitric acid without effervescence, 

 and contained 71*5 parts of phosphate of lime, 0*5 of sulphate 

 of lime, 2'0 of albumen, and 24rO of water. In an urinary 

 calculus from a boa constrictor, Wurzer found 40 parts of uric 

 acid, 18 of urate of ammonia, 9 of urate of soda, 19 of phos- 

 phate of lime, 10 of albumen, 3 of organic matter, and 1 of 

 iron with traces of manganese. 



Intestinal Concretions in Man. 



From the researches of Dr. Jager, 1 it appears that intestinal 

 concretions (which are of much rarer occurrence than urinary 

 calculi) consist of earthy phosphates and fatty matters. In 

 conducting an analysis of an intestinal concretion, we proceed 

 in much the same manner as in the case of a fixed urinary 

 calculus. If cholesterin is present, the concretion must be 

 extracted with ether, which, on evaporation, leaves that consti- 

 tuent mixed probahly with other fats ; to obtain it in a state 

 of purity we must saponify the other fats with potash, remove 

 them with water, and dissolve the residual cholesterin in boil- 

 ing alcohol, from which it separates almost entirely on cooling. 

 The other fats may be extracted by decomposing their soaps 

 with hydrochloric acid, and collecting the liberated fatty acids. 

 If bilifellinic acid is present, it may be extracted with alcohol 

 after the fats have been removed by ether, and it may be se- 

 parated after evaporation of the alcohol by digestion with dilute 

 sulphuric acid. Boiling water will take up extractive matter, 

 traces of chloride of sodium, chloride of calcium, and possibly 

 urate of ammonia, a salt once observed by Brugnatelli in in- 

 testinal concretions passed in large quantity by a woman. 

 When various organic matters, as for instance woody fibre, 

 hair, &c. occur in these concretions, the earthy constituents 

 must be dissolved in dilute hydrochloric acid, which leaves these 

 organic matters unaffected. 



Intestinal concretions are usually round or oval, but when 

 several occur together their rounded form is often destroyed. 

 In size they vary extremely ; Renton describes one weighing 

 four pounds, but from two to four ounces appears the ordi- 



1 Ueber die Darmsteine des Menschen u. d. Thiere, Berl. 1834. 



