1. When rats were fed on sperm head oil as well as on arctic sperm oil (oils of skin, muscle and bone), adding 10_??_15% in the diet, an oily substance diffused out from the skin and the animals show such an appearance as if they were dipped in oil. Besides, the above oils are very noxious, retarding the growth and finally causing the death of animals in a few weeks.
2. The above symptom produced by the whale oil cannot be prevented by adding 15% yeast in the diet, though the toxicity seems to be somewhat reduced, but rather the addition of yeast favor the development of more conspicuous symptom.
3. Saponification products of whale oil, namely, fatty acids and unsapo-nifiable matter, produced no such symptom as the original oils, but the toxicity was stronger than the latter. Moreover, it is not decided whether or not the substance which causes seborrhea is identical with that which prevents the growth of the animal.
4. The severe symptom appeared on these animals which grew relatively well with good food intake.
5. The oleic acid ester of oleyl alcohol synthetically prepared by the author exerted the same effect as whale oil, but oleyl palmitate or cetyl oleate gave no such phenomena.
In conclusion, the author wishes to express his sincere thanks to Prof. U. Suzuki for his kind guidance. Thanks are also due to the Tokai Fishery Company and to Mr. K. Tashima for their kindness in supplying the materials.
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