Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - XV. The Skin and its Secretions
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
Below is the raw OCR text
from the above scanned image.
Do you see an error? Proofread the page now!
Här nedan syns maskintolkade texten från faksimilbilden ovan.
Ser du något fel? Korrekturläs sidan nu!
This page has never been proofread. / Denna sida har aldrig korrekturlästs.
S46 THE SKIN AND ITS SECRETIONS.
The preputial secretion, smegma prceputii, contains chiefly fat, also
cholesterin and ammonium soaps, which probably are produced from
decomposed urine. The hippuric acid, benzoic acid, and calcium oxalate
found in the smegma of the horse probably have the same origin.
We may also consider as a preputial secretion the castoreum, which is secreted
by two peculiar glandular sacs, in the prepuce of the beaver. The castoreum is a
mixture of proteins, fats, resins, traces of phenol (volatile oil), and a non-nitrog-
enous body, castorin, crystallizing from alcohol in four-sided needles, insoluble
in cold water, but somewhat soluble in boiling water, and whose composition is
little known.
In the secretion from the anal glands of the skunk, butyl mercaptan and alkyl
sulphides have been found (Aldrich, E. Beckmann l
).
Wool-fat, or the so-called fat-sweat of sheep, is a mixture of the secretion of
the sudoriparous and sebaceous glands. There is found in the watery extract a
large quantity of potassium which is combined with organic acid, volatile and non-
volatile fatty acids, benzoic acid, phenol-sulphuric acid, lactic acid, malic acid,
succinic acid, and others. The fat contains, among other bodies, abundant quan-
tities of ethers of fatty acids with cholesterin and isocholesterin. Darmstadter
and Lifschutz have found other alcohols in wool-fat besides myristic acid, also
two oxyfatty acids, lanoceric acid, CjoHeoCj, and lanopalmitic acid, C16H32O3.
Isocholesterin, oxycholesterin and carnaubyl alcohol, C24H49OH, are besides the
two last-mentioned acids, substances that are characteristic of wool-fat. Accord-
ing to Rohmann 2
wool-fat contains a body lanocerin, which is the internal anhy-
dride of the above-mentioned lanoceric acid.
The secretion of the coccygeal glands of ducks and geese contains a body similar
to casein, besides albumin, nuclein, lecithin, and fat, but no sugar (De Jonge).
The chief constituent is octadecyl alcohol, Ci8 Hs8 0, which represents 40-45 per
cent of the ethereal extract (Rohmann). The fatty acids are oleic acid, small
amounts of caprylic acid, palmitic acid, and stearic acid, and optical isomers of
lauric and myristic acid. The fatty acids are in great part combined with the
octadecylic alcohol, and this is probably formed by the reduction of stearic acid or
oelic acid. The secretion also contains a substance related to lanocerin which
Rohmann calls pennacerin. Poisonous bodies have been found in the secretion
of the skin of the salamander and the toad, namely, samandarin (Zaleski, Faust)
and bufidin (Jornara and Casali), bufotalin and the disputed bodies bufonin
and bvjotenin (Faust, Bertrand and Phisalix 3
). The active constituents in
the poison of the rattle-snake and cobra, the crotalotoxin and the ophiotoxin have
been isolated and studied by Faust. 4
They are free from nitrogen and have a
similar composition, namely, C34H54O21 and C34H62O20 and are classified in the
pharmacological group of sapotoxins by Faust. Thalassin is the crystalline body
discovered by Richet 5
which is the poisonous constituent of the feelers of the
sea nettle.
1
Aldrich, Journ. of Exp. Med., 1; Beckmann, Maly’s Jahresber., 26, 566.
2
Darmstader and Lifschutz, Ber. d. d. Chem., Gesellsch., 29 and 31; Rohmann,
Hofmeister’s Beitrage, 5, and Centralbl. f. Physiol., 19, 317. See also Unna, 1. c, 45;
and Lifschutz and Unna, ibid., p. 234.
a
De Jonge, Zeitschr. f. physiol. Chem., 3; Rohmann, 1. c; Zaleski, Hoppe-Seyler’s
Med.-chem. (Jntersuch., p. 85; Faust, Arch. f. exp. Path. u. Pharm., 41; Jornara and
Casali, Maly’s Jahresbr., 3; Faust, Arch. f. exp. Path. u. Pharm., 47 and 49; Bertrand,
Compt. Rend., 135; Bertrand and Phisalix, ibid.
4
Arch. f. exp. Path. u. Pharm., 56 and 64.
6
Pfluger’s Arch., 108.
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
