306 
OBSERVATIONS ON MUSK. 
that in Dr. GobePs possession. The weight of grain musk 
from this bag was 225 grains, and cost 30 thaler, — about 
£4 10s. 
If we take a Chinese musk bag, with its partially bald 
surface and yellowish-brown hairs here and there cut off, 
and soften the same by digestion in warm water, we per- 
ceive pretty plainly that it has been subjected to artificial 
changes. The external skin is tender, and may be easily 
torn, as if it had been destroyed by partial decomposition; 
the hairs have either fallen off or been removed by force; 
indeed the longer hairs clearly appear to have been cut off. 
Why do not the musk bags from China arrive as perfect 
as those from Russia ? Because the contents have been re- 
moved and the bags refilled, as may be distinctly perceived 
by the circumstance of those hairs which surround the in- 
terior small opening which is found on the hairy side of the 
bag, immediately before the genital canal, being depressed; 
whilst in the Russian musk bags these small hairs are found 
standing obliquely, and protruding in and between the 
secretion. It is possible, although not at all probable, that 
the musk deer, which abound in Thibet, Butan, &c, may 
possess musk bags of a perfectly distinct character from the 
Russian, but no trustworthy reference or practical judge has 
ever witnessed the removal of such a bag from the living 
animal, or described it or its contents. That the grain 
musk of the Chinese musk bags which have been brought 
to Europe differs very much in its effects, as well as in its 
physical and chemical characters, from the pure Siberian, 
has been ascertained; and that it likewise acts with more 
energy on the living economy when administered internal- 
ly. All the different chemical investigations of musk, for 
which we are indebted to Buchner, Wetzlar, Oberdorffer, 
Thiemann, Blondeau, Guibourt, Geiger, and Reimann, &c, 
taken together, afford very few hints in reply to those 
questions, which involuntarily present themselves, in refer- 
