CHOLESTEROL ESTERS : 



On the other hand the deposition of cholesterol may frequently 

 originate, not so much in the abundance of this substance in the bile, 

 as in its diminished solubility therein. An increase in the albumin- 

 content of bile, as in inflammatory conditions, or by the addition of 

 egg-albumin to bile in vitro may lead to the deposition of cholesterol 

 and it is stated that certain bacteria, particularly the typhoid bacillus, 

 diminish the solubility of cholesterol in bile which they inhabit. 



The proportion of cholesterol in cholesterol-stones varies from 

 sixty-four to ninety-eight per cent. In addition there occur derivatives 

 of cholesterol which yield Lifschiitz's reaction without preliminary 

 oxidation, and are probably, therefore, derivatives originating from 

 cholesterol by oxidation. Similar substances are found in the blood 

 of normal persons, but are deficient in or absent from the blood of 

 persons afflicted with carcinoma (Luden). 



The biliary concretions of the sperm whale (Physeter macrocephalw) 

 are occasionally found floating upon the sea, or cast up upon the shores 

 of oceans inhabited by these mammals. They are found in dull gray or 

 black masses, having a peculiar sweet earthy odor, and form the 

 Ambergris of commerce. When taken directly from the intestinal 

 canal of whales it is of a deep gray color, soft consistence and disagree- 

 able odor, but on exposure to air, it hardens and acquires the charac- 

 teristic odor just described. Ambergris formerly enjoyed a high 

 reputation as a therapeutic agent but its therapeutic virtues probably 

 resided in its scarcity and expensiveness. At the present time 

 ambergris is of importance solely in the manufacture of perfume in 

 which its utility depends upon the rather extraordinary property it 

 possesses, when added to perfumes in minute amounts, of very markedly 

 enhancing their "floral" fragrance. 



Ambergris consists in the main, frequently to the extent of eighty- 

 five per cent., of a substance, Ambrine, which very closely resembles 

 cholesterol in its solubilities, general appearance and composition. It 

 is insoluble hi water, highly soluble in alcohol, ether and oils, and 

 crystallizes in white shining plates. 



CHOLESTEROL ESTERS. 



Cholesterol esters of the fatty acids are very widely distributed in the 

 vegetable kingdom. In the animal kingdom they are found in the 

 blood and lymph, in the medullated sheaths of nerves, in the cortical 

 tissues of the suprarenal- gland and in the secretions of the sebaceous 

 glands. The so-called fat or grease of sheeps' wool, which, when refined 

 is commercially known as "Lanoline," consists almost entirely of a 

 mixture of the palmitate, oleate and stearate of cholesterol together 

 with a variable proportion of water. 



The fatty acid esters of cholesterol resemble the true fats, or fatty 

 acid esters of glycerol, in their solubility in organic solvents, and 

 insolubility in water. They differ, however, from the fats in the 



