224 Messrs. Dorée and Gardner. Origin and  [Dec. 20, 
I. 01924 gave 0°5758 CO2 and 0°2464 HO. 
i 0 Ae x 0()°5234 COz ,, 0°2230 HO. 
Found 
rr Calculated for 
I. 10G Cz HO: 
OR. eee 81°62 81°94 82°14 
ds Deira 8 14°23 14°22 13°80 
The mother liquors from this product yielded a considerable quantity of 
reddish oily matter, similar to that found in the feces. 
It would, therefore, appear that hippocoprosterol is not an animal product, 
but is a constituent of the grass food which is passed unchanged. In order 
to confirm this conclusion, and also to ascertain whether any cholesterol 
or derivative of it which we might have missed in our previous experi- 
ments was excreted by the animal, we made a series of experiments in 
which a domestic rabbit was fed on grass which had been thoroughly 
extracted with ether. 
Experiment 1—A rabbit, weighing 2-1 kilogrammes, was fed with 
315 grammes of extracted grass, slightly moistened with water, during 
14 days. A very small quantity of bran was given in addition. The 
animal took the grass readily, and at the end of the experiment had only 
lost 0:1 kilogramme in weight, and appeared to be in good health. The 
weight of dry feeces obtained was 128 grammes. This was extracted in the 
usual way, and the extract was found to have a somewhat fcetid odour 
not noticed with ordinary dung. One gramme of unsaponifiable matter 
was obtained, the greater portion of which was soluble in alcohol. On 
standing, a very small quantity of red crystalline matter was deposited, but 
the bulk of the substance eventually separated as a non-crystalline red oil. 
No trace of hippocoprosterol was discovered, and the small quantity of 
crystalline matter referred to after purification was obtained from dilute 
alcohol in the form of glancing white leaf-like crystals and from ethyl acetate 
as needles, which melted rather indefinitely at about 129°. Under the 
microscope the crystals from alcohol showed the form of hexagonal plates, 
recalling those of phytosterol, but the quantity was too small for further 
investigation.* 
Experiment 2—A rabbit, weighing 271 kilogrammes, was fed during 
18 days on extracted grass with a little bran. The quantity consumed 
weighed before extraction 2°8 kilogrammes, and was of a somewhat coarser 
* This substance was derived from the bran given to the animals, as on extraction of 
a sample of bran we obtained a body, crystallising in the same forms, which melted at. 
137°°5 C., and appeared to be identical with Burian’s sitosterol. 
