578 MORBID CONCRETIONS. 



1812.* It was of the size of a nutmeg. It was deep-green, and 

 its surface was smooth and shining. It burnt away without flam- 

 ing, giving out a smell like that of horn. It gave a yellow colour 

 to water, was partly soluble in alcohol, and partly in caustic po- 

 tash. The portion dissolved by water was picromel, that dissolv- 

 ed by alcohol was green matter of bile, and that dissolved by 

 caustic potash was the yellow matter of bile. 



The experiments hitherto made upon the gall-stones of the 

 inferior animals are not numerous. Those of oxen, according to 

 Thenard, are always yellow, and consist of the yellow matter of 

 bile, mixed with minute traces of bile, which may be separated 

 by water. When thus washed, they are tasteless, and insoluble 

 in water and alcohol. They are used by painters, though the 

 colour is not permanent but soon changes into brown, f 



In 1826, M. Lassaigne gave an account of a gall-stone ex- 

 tracted from a sow.} It was composed of, 



Cholesterin, . . . . 6- 



White resin, r: .i*. . 4 : '; 44-95 



Bile, . . ,,*'. ;^.; 3-60 



Animal matter and green resin altered, 45-45 



100-00 



This constitutes the only example hitherto discovered of a gall- 

 stone of an inferior animal containing cholesterin. 



CHAPTER V. 



OF OSSIFICATIONS. 



THE concretions which make their appearance in the solids of 

 the animal body may be comprehended under this name, because 

 they have all a close resemblance to bone, being composed of 

 similar constituents. The following are the most remarkable of 

 these concretions. 



1. Pineal concretions. It is well-known to anatomists that 

 small concretions like sand are often found lodged in that part 

 of the brain called the pineal gland. It was suspected from ana- 



* Ann. dc Chim. Ixxxiv. 34. f Mem. d'Arcueil, i. 59. 



| Ann. de Chim. et de Phys. xxxi. 220. 



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