22 2 Messrs. Dorée and Gardner. Origin and  [Dee. 20, 
the horse, while the sheep gave 0:4 per cent. of a yellow vaseline-like 
substance smelling strongly of hay. 
Examination of the Eacrement of the Rabbit. 
The material was obtained in the summer from wild rabbits. Treated as 
before, from 3 kilogrammes of the dried feeces, 6°2 grammes, or 0°21 per cent., of 
pure hippocoprosterol were obtained. On analysis it gave the following 
results :— 
01656 gave 04974 CO, and 0:2135 H,0. 
; Calculated for 
Found. C,,H,,0. 
CR emi S191 82°14 
Hs eee 14°33 13°80 
The oils left after complete separation of the solid matter weighed 23°26 
crammes, or 0°77 per cent. 
Mr. G. W. Ellis, at our suggestion, attempted to ascertain the composition 
of these residues by a fractional distillation 7m vacuo, but the process proved 
tedious and difficult and led to no very definite results. At first the liquid simply 
frothed over, but on returning the distillate and repeating several times the 
frothing became less marked, and under a pressure of less than 1 mm. it 
distilled over between 98° and the temperature at which the glass softened 
without the slightest charring. After elaborate and repeated fractionation, 
four main fractions were obtained, boiling around the following 
temperatures :—(1) 98°, (2) 164° to 168°, (3) 215° to 220°, (4) 260° to 265°. In 
the flask there remained a transparent, yellow, brittle, resinous substance which 
was not decomposed at the softening point of glass. | 
Fraction 1 consisted of about 2 c.c. of a pale yellow, fairly mobile oil, with 
a smell recalling that of pine oil.* On combustion it was found to contain 
82°13 per cent. carbon and 11:96 per cent. hydrogen. 
Fraction 2 consisted of about 3 ¢.c. which, on long standing, deposited a 
trace of crystalline matter. It had a very faint turpentine odour and 
‘reduced ammoniacal silver solution in the cold, markedly on heating. 
Fraction 3 consisted of about 5 c.c. of a very thick oil, smelling faintly of 
hay, and only just mobile at the ordinary temperature. 
Fraction 4 was the largest and consisted of a pale yellow, sticky, solid 
(at the ordinary temperature), which showed no signs of crystallisation after 
many months’ standing. On combustion it gave the following figures, which 
agree closely with those required for cholesterol :— 
* The rabbits from which these feces were obtained lived on the border of a pine 
wood. 
