382 CUTANEOUS SECRETIONS. 



variable; in a fresh German specimen I found 67*7{b in a smoked 

 Russian specimen 64'3{j, and in a Canadian one 41*34^. 



In all these secretions I also found small quantities of matter 

 soluble only in water, the organic portion of which did not admit 

 of further determination. In the vernix caseosa I found that the 

 water-extract amounted to 3'3, in the human preputial smegma 

 to 6'1, and in that of the horse to 5'4-g-. 



That portion of these secretions which is insoluble in water, 

 alcohol, and ether, consists for the most part of the histological 

 structures which have been already mentioned, and likewise of 

 hairs ; at all events, so far as the vernix caseosa is concerned, 

 through which we always find a network of lanugo running. 

 From this mass we may extract the above mentioned albuminous 

 substance, which, however, at all events, in part belongs to the cells. 



We find only a small amount of soluble mineral constituents, 

 namely, a little chloride of sodium and hydrochlorate of ammonia, 

 with phosphate of ammonia and soda. Earthy phosphates, on the 

 other hand, occur in considerable quantity; there bein^, according 

 to my analyses, 6*5 - in the vernix caseosa, 9'7-j}- in the smegma 

 prseputii of man, and 5'4-J in that of the horse. 



From this sketch of the few experiments to which secretions 

 of this class have been subjected, we may at all events draw this 

 conclusion, that however different the position and the structure of 

 the sebaceous glands may be, they secrete tolerably similar products. 



It is sufficiently obvious that no great weight can be attached 

 to the determinations of the quantity of water in these secretions; 

 in order, however, to .give some general idea of the amount of 

 water that is present, it may be mentioned that in the vernix 

 caseosa I found 66'98{f, and John Davy* 77'87-g- of water, but that 

 in the secretions of the sebaceous glands of animals living in the 

 air, the quantity of water is far less in consequence of the con- 

 tinuous evaporation, although it is liable to great variations 

 depending on external conditions. 



We have now to mention a few substances which are to be 

 regarded either as incidental admixtures or as constituents peculiar 

 to individual secretions. Amongst these we must first mention a 

 bile-like substance, which I have found in the preputial secretion of 

 man, the horse, and the beaver : as I have been unable to find it 

 in the vernix caseosa, in the cerumen, or the secretion of the 

 Meibomean glands of a scrofulous child, it appears to be peculiar 



* Medico-chir. Trans. 1844, p. 193. 



