468 INTESTINAL CONCRETIONS. BEZOARS. [BOOK II. 



frequently met with in millers' horses and which, in the latter, often 

 attain an enormous size. 



Intestinal concretions in man have often been found to contain 

 some foreign body as a nucleus, as for example a fruit stone, some- 

 times fragments of bone, of iron, or horn, which have been acci- 

 dentally swallowed (Hoppe-Seyler). The mineral salts which form 

 the greater part of, or which occur as an incrustation around, in- 

 testinal calculi are composed either of pure crystalline amrnoniaco- 

 magnesium phosphate, or of this salt mixed with varying quantities 

 of magnesium phosphate. 



In certain intestinal concretions of the horse, the amount of 

 triple phosphate has been found to vary between 83'2 and 98*3 per 

 cent., and silica has been found to the amount of 5'2 per cent. 



Hair balls ^ n cei% t am animals, as the pig, the ox, the goat and 



the chamois, intestinal concretions are met with, which 



are composed entirely of felted hairs and which take their origin in 



the habit of these animals to lick their own coats or those of their 



associates. 



Oriental Oriental bezoars are intestinal concretions probably 



derived from Capra cegagrus and Antelope dorias ; 

 they are for the most part spherical or oval, possess a dark olive- 

 green colour, and have a smooth, waxy, shining exterior. They vary 

 greatly in size. When heated, true bezoars evolve aromatic fumes. 



Lithofellic True bezoars are composed almost entirely of an 



acid C 20 H 36 4 acid called lithofellic acid which was first investigated 

 and the other by Ettling and Will and to which they assigned the 

 of^rue^ez^ars f rmu l a CgoHggO^ Lithofellic acid is extracted from 

 bezoars by powdering and treating with boiling alcohol. 

 On evaporating the alcoholic solution, the latter deposits small 

 colourless crystals which are either pointed rhombohedra or three- 

 sided prisms. Lithofellic acid is insoluble in water, and very 

 sparingly soluble in ether. It is soluble in glacial acetic acid which 

 deposits it in a crystalline condition on evaporation. Lithofellic acid 

 is, according to Hoppe-Seyler, closely related to cholalic acid. 



The green colour of bezoars is due to biliverdin ; these mysterious 

 concretions contain other derivatives of bilirubin (Hoppe-Seyler). 



False Be- Intestinal concretions, also called bezoars, come from 



ZO ?J B ' g 1 ^ the east, which are of a brownish black colour, which do 

 14 6 8 ' not melt, and which are composed of ellagic acid 

 (C 14 H 16 8 + 2H 2 0), a derivative of tannin. Ellagic acid is found 

 in oak bark. When pure, it is a yellow crystalline powder which, 

 under the microscope, is seen to be composed of yellow prisms oc- 

 curring singly or in groups. It is soluble in boiling alcohol. Ferric 

 chloride produces a deep blue precipitate. The ellagic acid of 

 bezoars is doubtless derived from the tannin contained in the food 

 consumed by the animals which yield them. 



