ANALYSIS  OF   A  CONCRETION. 
103 
plates,  which  became  richly  red  in  a  drop  of  concentrated  S03  ; 
thus  clearly  characterising  the  presence  of  Cholesterin. 
Of  the  Yellow  Oil  there  was  not  a  sufficient  quantity  to  experi- 
ment upon  satisfactorily.  The  hair  dried  weighed  20  grs.  Under 
the  microscope  the  filaments  appeared  perfect,  and  the  pith  of  the 
larger  ones  distinct.  Hence  the  hair  did  not  undergo  the  digestive 
process;  indeed  I  am  not  aware  that  any  form  of  keratine  is  sus- 
ceptible of  digestion. 
On  drying  the  epithelium  from  the  alcoholic  maceration,  at  near- 
ly scorching  heat  of  paper,  the  room  was  filled  with  the  strong 
cow-house  odor. 
Thus  we  have  in  the  original  concretion  : 
Hair  20  grs. 
Epithelium       112  grs. 
Casein 
Butyric  Acid 
Cholesterin 
Yellow  Oil 
The  hair  was  no  doubt  licked  from  the  hide  of  a  cow  or  calf ;  the 
epithelium  was  probably  derived  from  the  same  source  ;  the  yellow 
oil  was,  I  suspect,  extracted  from  these  by  the  alcohol.  Casein  is 
found  in  the  pancreatic  juice ;  but  as  the  ball  could  not  have  been 
regurgitated  from  the  duodenum,  and  the  pancreatic  juice  is  not 
likely  to  find  its  way  into  the  second  stomach  from  which  the  ru- 
minal  pellets  are  projected  into  the  mouth,  the  reasonable  supposi- 
tion is  that  the  casein  was  derived  from  the  vegetable  food  of  the 
animal  or  its  slops. 
As,  according  to  Day,  cholesterin  has  never  been  found  in  any 
vegetables  used  as  food,  we  must  look  elsewhere  for  the  origin  of 
this  constituent.  If  we  assume  that  the  principal  constituents  of 
the  ball  were  obtained  from  the  skin  of  a  very  young  calf,  we  need 
seek  no  further  for  the  fat  in  question ;  for  in  the  vernix  caseosa  1 
have  detected  cholesterin  in  large  proportion,  as  indeed  have 
others  before  :  (Fromherz  &  Juggert.)  There  are  so  many  sources 
of  butyric  acid,  that  it  is  difficult  to  assign  its  proper  origin  in  the 
concretion  :  gastric  juice,  perspiration,  the  spontaneous  decomposi- 
tion of  fibrin,  butyrin,  &c,  all  furnish  it. 
In  order  to  confirm  the  microscopic  evidence  of  the  presence  of 
epithelium  or  of  some  form  of  keratine,  I  treated  the  minute  scales 
77  grs. 
