73 



EIXHOF and THA.ER instituted a very minute 

 * xanunation of the excrements of cattle, and I 

 have since examined those of man in a more phy- 

 siological point of view than my predecessors. 

 These contain about j of their weight of fluid, in 

 which is found, besides the small portion of yet 

 undecompoundecl bile, a solution of the usual salts 

 of the serum, a certain quantity of phosphate of 

 magnesia, and a peculiar animal matter in form of 

 an extract. The solid mass consists of what is un- 

 dissolved in the stomach, or precipitated in the 

 duodenum, and of the mucus of the intestines, 

 which is thoroughly diffused through the whole 



mass. 



*le 



VAUQUELIN instituted a comparative experi- 

 ment on the quantity of earths a hen consumed in 

 the oats on which it was fed, and the quantity 

 produced in the eggs and excrements, whereby it 

 appeared, that the quantity of phosphate of lime in 

 the latter was twice as much as in the former, 

 besides a quantity of carbonate of lime, found in 

 the oats on which it was fed, and that the quan- 

 tity of silica was somewhat, though not consider- 

 ably, diminished in the excretions of the hen. 

 These experiments, which, by the bye, have been 



