FECES. 545 



IL The excrementitious matter examined by Thaer and Ein- 

 hof was that of cattle fed at the stall, chiefly on turnips. It had 

 a yellowish- green colour, a smell somewhat similar to that of 

 musk, and but little taste. Its specific gravity was 1*045. It 

 did not alter vegetable blues, and of course contained no uncom- 

 bined acid or alkali. 



1. Sulphuric acid, when mixed with this matter, developesthe 

 odour of acetic acid ; but Thaer and Einhof have shown that this 

 acid does not exist in the feces, but is formed by the action of the 

 sulphuric acid. The pure alkalies, nitric and muriatic acids, 

 produce little change on the feces of cattle, at least when not as- 

 sisted by heat 



2. When 100 parts are dried on a steam-bath, they leave 28 J 

 of solid matter. 



3. When eight ounces, or 3840 grains, were diffused through 

 water, they let fall a quantity of sand, weighing 45 grains. 



4. The watery solution, being strained through a linen cloth, 

 left 600 grains of a yellowish fibrous matter, which possessed the 

 properties of the fibrous matter of plants.* 



5. The liquid, on standing, deposited a slimy substance, which 

 was separated by filtration. It weighed when dry 480 grains. 

 To this matter the feces owe their peculiar colour and smell. It 

 was insoluble in water and alcohol. When heated it smelled 

 like ox bile. It burnt like vegetable matter. Alkalies scarcely 

 affected it. Sulphuric acid developed the odour of acetic acid. 

 Chlorine rendered it yellow. Thaer and Einhof considered this 

 substance as the remains of the vegetable matter employed as 

 food by the cattle ; but it is extremely probable that it might 

 contain also a portion of picromel, as Berzelius detected that sub- 

 stance in similar matter from the human feces. 



6. The filtered solution passed through colourless, but on ex- 

 posure to the air became in a few minutes wine-yellow and then 

 brown. When evaporated to dryness it left a brownish matter, 

 of a bitterish taste, and weighing 90 grains. It was soluble in 

 water, insoluble in alcohol, and precipitated from water by that 

 liquid. It was not precipitated by infusion of galls. The so- 

 lution was found to contain some phosphoric salts. The 90 grains 

 of residue, when heated, burnt like animal matter. They soon 

 ran into putrefaction, exhaling ammonia. f 



* Gehlen, Hi. 286. f Ibid. iii. 287. 



M m 



