20 OVIS ARIES. 



ing margaric and oleic acids, and the mild principle of oils called 

 glycerine. By distillation it affords an acid, called by Thenard, 

 the sebacic acid. 



Medical and Dietetic Properties. — Suet is emollient ; and is 

 sometimes prescribed internally, boiled in milk, so as to form a 

 sort of emulsion, in chronic diarrhcea and disentery, arising from 

 the presence of acrid or irritating matters in the intestinal canal. 

 Externally it is employed as an emollient for relaxing those parts 

 to which it is applied ; but its principal use is to give consistence 

 to ointments and plasters. Indeed, this and hog's lard are almost 

 the only unctuous substances now retained in the British Pharma- 

 copoeias for similar purposes, although formerly more than twenty 

 different fats entered some lists of the materia mediea. Each 

 particular fat was then supposed to possess peculiar properties ; 

 but for this there is probably no foundation ; even these retained 

 are now less employed than before, as it has been ascertained that 

 a proper consistence may be more certainly obtained by determined 

 proportions of wax and oil ; but as these articles are more ex- 

 pensive, lard and suet are often substitute'd for them in the com- 

 position of ointments and other pharmaceutical preparations. 



Mutton affords a very nourishing and wholesome aliment, less 

 stimulant and less nutritive than beef, and in general not so easily 

 digested. " Tup mutton, euro arietis" says Dr. R. Pearson, in 

 his Practical Synopsis of the Materia Alimentaria, " has such a 

 strong smell and disagreeable taste, and is besides so exceedingly 

 tough and difficultly digested, that it is never eaten but by those 

 who cannot afford to purchase mutton of a better quality. Ewe 

 mutton, caro ovis femellce , if it be more than between two or three 

 years old, is likewise tough and coarse. Wedder mutton, caro 

 vervechia, or the flesh of the castrated animal, is more esteemed, 

 and is by far the most palatable and digestible. Lamb, caro agnina, 

 being less heating and less dense, is better suited to weak stomachs ; 

 but this applies only to the flesh of lambs that have not been 

 robbed of their blood by repeated bleeding, or reared by the hand 

 with milk adulterated with chalk, in order to make the meat 

 appear white. Such practices to render the food pleasing to the 

 eye, at the expence of its alimentary properties, cannot be too 



