# 33 substances that come out of a human body **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 26, 2006, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/33-substances-that-come-out-of-a-human-body/377945 "2006-10-26T05:27:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Tim\_from\_Sylmar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@Tim\_from\_Sylmar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_from_Sylmar)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2006, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/33-substances-that-come-out-of-a-human-body/377945/1 "2006-10-26T05:27:34Z")
A few years ago I read an otherwise forgettable novel in which the author mentioned “The 33 substances that come out of the human body”. After many hours of cogitation and list-making, I could only come up with 24. Perhaps I’m more stringent than the above-mentioned author. On the one hand, I feel that changing a name does not alter the substance - snot, phlegm, and mucous are, in fact, all the same thing. And on the other hand, I think listing items like slivers, bullets, and toejam is just cheating. Here is my list: 1) hair, 2) skin, 3) perspiration, 4) sebum, 5) earwax, 6) tears, 7) mucous, 8) blood, 9) vomit, 10) carbon dioxide, 11) teeth, 12) saliva, 13) breast milk, 14) fingernails, 15) urine, 16) feces, 17) methane gas, 18) menses, 19) smegma, 20) infant human beings, 21) placenta, 22) amniotic fluid, 23) pus, 24) that gold, transparent fluid that dries out to become a scab. That leaves me 7 short. What am I forgetting? ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2006, 5:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/33-substances-that-come-out-of-a-human-body/377945/2 "2006-10-26T05:39:18Z")
1. Semen 2. Vaginal lubricant ---
**Author:** ![treis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bc79bd/32.png) [@treis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/treis)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2006, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/33-substances-that-come-out-of-a-human-body/377945/3 "2006-10-26T06:00:07Z")
1. Eyelashes 2. That hard stuff that ends up in the corner of your eyes. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_from\_Sylmar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@Tim\_from\_Sylmar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_from_Sylmar)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2006, 6:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/33-substances-that-come-out-of-a-human-body/377945/4 "2006-10-26T06:20:12Z")
[QUOTE=treis] 27. Eyelashes 28. That hard stuff that ends up in the corner of your eyes. [/QUOTE] Eyelashes are hair. And I think those hard things (known in my youth as “sleepers”) may well be mucous hardened into little bitty eye boogers. But I’m not sure. ---
**Author:** ![Bearflag70](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Bearflag70](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bearflag70)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2006, 6:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/33-substances-that-come-out-of-a-human-body/377945/5 "2006-10-26T06:23:43Z")
sperm & egg ? ---
**Author:** ![xiix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/d6d6ee/32.png) [@xiix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xiix)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2006, 6:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/33-substances-that-come-out-of-a-human-body/377945/6 "2006-10-26T06:29:44Z")
lies. ---
**Author:** ![marshmallow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df705f/32.png) [@marshmallow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/marshmallow)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2006, 6:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/33-substances-that-come-out-of-a-human-body/377945/7 "2006-10-26T06:41:35Z")
Perhaps I could make the case for all the fun things that come out of the womb during birth? Let’s see, there’s the amniotic fluid, the placenta/umbilical cord, and the amniotic sac itself. That’s four right there. If you wanted to be a splitter you could divide a lot of these substances into many different components – blood, for instance, is plasma and all the blood cells. Semen is a lot of different liquids mixed together with the sperm, etc. But I suppose that’s cheating, and it could get kinda silly… ---
**Author:** ![iano](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@iano](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iano)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2006, 6:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/33-substances-that-come-out-of-a-human-body/377945/8 "2006-10-26T06:59:00Z")
Would you call kidney stones “urine”? ---
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2006, 7:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/33-substances-that-come-out-of-a-human-body/377945/9 "2006-10-26T07:04:55Z")
[QUOTE=mstay] Perhaps I could make the case for all the fun things that come out of the womb during birth? Let’s see, there’s the amniotic fluid, the placenta/umbilical cord, and the amniotic sac itself. That’s four right there. [/QUOTE] Mentioned - check the OP (although the amniotic sac may or may not count as something seperate). Sometimes things come out of the body that aren’t necessarily supposed to, like organs. The appendix deserves honorable mention though. ---
**Author:** ![marshmallow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df705f/32.png) [@marshmallow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/marshmallow)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2006, 7:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/33-substances-that-come-out-of-a-human-body/377945/10 "2006-10-26T07:23:52Z")
Ugh, I swore I read the OP. I think that means it’s bed time… ---
**Author:** ![chowder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/977dab/32.png) [@chowder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chowder)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2006, 10:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/33-substances-that-come-out-of-a-human-body/377945/11 "2006-10-26T10:06:35Z")
Contact lenses 😃 Boogers ---
**Author:** ![Alive\_At\_Both\_Ends](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/73ab20/32.png) [@Alive\_At\_Both\_Ends](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alive_At_Both_Ends)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2006, 11:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/33-substances-that-come-out-of-a-human-body/377945/12 "2006-10-26T11:48:11Z")
[QUOTE=Tim from Sylmar] “The 33 \*\*substances \*\*that come out of the human body”. \ Here is my list: 1) hair, 2) skin, 3) perspiration, 4) sebum, 5) earwax, 6) tears, 7) mucous, 8) blood, 9) vomit, 10) carbon dioxide, 11) teeth, 12) saliva, 13) breast milk, 14) fingernails, 15) urine, 16) feces, 17) methane gas, 18) menses, 19) smegma, 20) infant human beings, 21) placenta, 22) amniotic fluid, 23) pus, 24) that gold, transparent fluid that dries out to become a scab. [/QUOTE] I’m pretty sure “infant human beings” can’t be described as a “substance”. Things like teeth and fingernails seem a bit doubtful as well. ---
**Author:** ![pudytat72](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@pudytat72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pudytat72)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2006, 12:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/33-substances-that-come-out-of-a-human-body/377945/13 "2006-10-26T12:06:12Z")
viruses and bacteria? ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2006, 12:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/33-substances-that-come-out-of-a-human-body/377945/14 "2006-10-26T12:06:15Z")
You can separate out the mucouses. Anal mucous is rather different to snot. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2006, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/33-substances-that-come-out-of-a-human-body/377945/15 "2006-10-26T13:27:03Z")
If you are going to differentiate between all the gases (carbon dioxide & methane), you might as well include hydrogen sulfide, which (among others) puts the aroma in farts. ---
**Author:** ![FordPrefect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e99b99/32.png) [@FordPrefect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FordPrefect)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2006, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/33-substances-that-come-out-of-a-human-body/377945/16 "2006-10-26T13:29:28Z")
methane? or is that just me and the bovine? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2006, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/33-substances-that-come-out-of-a-human-body/377945/17 "2006-10-26T13:31:50Z")
Would “vomit” cover stomach acid? Cause somethings you just choke up acid. “Menses” is actually blood and uterine tissue. ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2006, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/33-substances-that-come-out-of-a-human-body/377945/18 "2006-10-26T13:36:16Z")
[Meconium](http://ak.essortment.com/whatismeconium_rhmq.htm), baby’s first poo. No shit :D! ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2006, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/33-substances-that-come-out-of-a-human-body/377945/19 "2006-10-26T13:40:03Z")
In the case of tears, water and salt. ---
**Author:** ![flight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bbce88/32.png) [@flight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flight)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2006, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/33-substances-that-come-out-of-a-human-body/377945/20 "2006-10-26T14:06:25Z")
[QUOTE=Annie-Xmas] In the case of tears, water and salt. [/QUOTE] But if you do that then you can’t include sweat, because it is already covered. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/33-substances-that-come-out-of-a-human-body/377945.md?page=2)