ia 1907.| Destiny of Cholesterol in the Animal Organism. 221 
obtained free from oil. The alcohol was accordingly evaporated off, and the 
buttery residue, which dissolved very easily in most solvents, was treated with 
_'75-per-cent. alcohol, in which it was more difficultly soluble. From this a 
white solid body was obtained in small quantity (less than 1 per cent.), 
which gave Liebermann’s test and crystallised from dilute alcohol in the 
_ sword blade plates described above. From ether and petrol it dried up to 
rosettes of needles which softened at 145° and melted clear at 154° to 155°. 
This melting point could not be raised by repeated crystallisation. To 
discover whether it was identical with Tanret’s ergosterol,* it was converted 
into the acetate by heating with acetic anhydride and sodium acetate. The 
product, which was very soluble in petrol, crystallised from dilute alcohol in 
microscopic rectangular plates. It, however, melted at 78° to 80° C., whereas 
Tanret’s acetate melted at 169° to 176°. 
After separation of the solid bodies as above, the alcoholic solution leaves, 
on evaporation, a very dark red thick oil, which, in the case of the horse, has 
not been further investigated. It is important, however, to emphasise that, 
although we have extracted some 15 kilogrammes of dried feces, we have not 
been able to obtain either the «-hippocoprosterol of Wilenko, or to detect any 
trace of cholesterol, microscopically or otherwise. Instead, we have obtained 
in minute quantity high melting bodies, which, so far as they could be 
examined, appeared to belong to the phytosterol, or vegetable cholesterol, 
group. 
Haiamination of the Haucrement of the Cow and Sheep. 
The material was obtained from grass-fed animals, and was extracted and 
worked up as before. The chief product was in each case a body identical in 
all its properties with the hippocoprosterol described above. The yield 
amounted to 0°15 per cent. of the dry dung in the case of the cow, and 
0:3 per cent. in that of the sheep. The identity was proved by the crystalline 
form, solubility, melting points, mixed melting points, and analysis. 
i COW 2... nce 0:2383 gave 0°7168 CO, and 0°3025 H20. 
TI. Sheep Seat: 0:1578 ms 04780 CO. ,, 0°2028 H.O. 
Found 
— A-———, Calculated for 
| if II. Cy Elige: 
C&A... 82°02 82°61 82°14 
DET gah 14°10 14:28 13°80 
The cow also gave about 0°3 per cent. of a dark red oil similar to that of 
* The ergosterol described by Tanret (‘Annales de Chim. et de Physique,’ series 6, 
vol. 20, p. 289) crystallises from alcohol in plates, from ether in needles. M. p. 154°. 
s 2 
