482 MORBID PRODUCTS. 



Another fatty tumour contained some casein precipitable from 

 the aqueous solution by acetic acid. 



Incrustations on the surface of the body. 



Sore surfaces from which the epidermis has been removed 

 are covered by a fluid which usually consists, according to Ber- 

 zelius, of serum. This fluid dries up and protects the exposed 

 surface from the atmospheric influence. My own investigations 

 lead me to believe that this fluid differs materially from serum, 

 that it contains a much larger quantity of albuminate of soda, 

 and that its solid residue consists, for the most part, not of 

 coagulated albumen, but of epithelium- and pus-cells. 1 Lassaigne 

 has analysed the crusts of small-pox; they contained 63 70 

 parts of coagulated, and 15 14 of uncoagulated albumen, 

 2 1 of fat, 18 11 of extract of flesh, and 2 2-5 of salts. 

 Wackenroder found uncoagulated albumen in the crusts of 

 tinea capitis. 



I have analysed the crusts which formed on sores on the 

 body of a man with a severe attack of icterus. They appeared 

 as yellow or whitish-yellow scales, or as large shreds of skin, 

 and were very difficult to pulverize. When rubbed with water 

 they swelled, and ultimately formed an emulsive sort of fluid, 

 which did not clear on standing, and in which a very large 

 number of epithelium-scales were suspended. The filtered fluid 

 coagulated very slowly on the application of heat, but became 

 covered with a film during evaporation. It had a faintly alka- 

 line reaction, and was rendered slightly turbid by the addition 

 of an acid, but again became clear on the addition of an excess 

 of the test. It was strongly precipitated by ferrocyanide of 

 potassium, infusion of galls, and bichloride of mercury. On 

 heating the residue, after evaporation with water, it was found 

 to be almost insoluble; alcohol took up some extractive matter 

 with a very little chloride of sodium. 



The residue yielded an ash which slightly effervesced on the 

 addition of nitric acid, and contained mere traces of the earthy 

 phosphates and chlorides, but a considerable amount of phos- 



1 [In connexion with this subject a paper ' On Pyinn, and its importance in the 

 Human Organism,' by Eichholtz, in Rust's Mag. fur die gesammte Heilkunde, vol. 64, 

 p. 140, may be consulted with advantage.] 



