the skin is sufficiently cognizable to warrant the assertion of its being the effects of ammoniacal decomposition. The saliva is the next nitrogenized element which is suppressed in typhus fever, and, in of deoxygenation in the stomach is impeded. In the Gazette Medicale of Feb. 8th, 1845, is a communication from Mr. Turck on the chlorides occurring in albuminous fluids, he remarks, "all the albuminous liquids he has yet examined, viz., the saliva, serum of the blood, and white of eggs, are continually disengaging ammonia." He conceives this gas is due to the simultaneous presence of muriate of ammonia and caustic soda in these fluids. The soda becomes converted into a muriate, and ammonia is then slowly liberated; therefore, he concludes that the evolution of ammonia from albuminous liquids performs an important part in the animal economy. Enderlin" concludes that the saliva, like the blood, contains no lactate, carbonate, or acetate, but that its alkaline reaction is due to tribasic phosphate of soda, which serves also as the solvent of the mucus and proteine compounds." Contemplating this secretion in health, it must be observed how great is the loss to life when it is suppressed or suspended; it is not only necessary for the first admixture with the food, but it is constantly poured out for some important duty into the stomach, when chymification is not going on. his chapter on the metamorphosis of the blood, makes the following general remarks: -"all our conceptions of organic life are associated with the idea of continuous change of substance," therefore the blood is not the only portion of the body that under-consequence, the animal heat with the means goes this change, every organ and tissue is subject to the same, which is presented to us under the general phenomena of nutrition and consumption (or waste), and which is dependent on, and effected by, the blood alone. But since the various tissues present a different chemical composition, and since the different organs separate different matters from the blood, it is obvious that they cannot all modify the circulating fluid in the same manner; but that the metamorphosis must vary in some degree with the influence of the nervous system; consequently, circulation and respiration, so as to bring the blood in contact with oxygen, are necessary for this metamorphosis, and the more completely these functions are performed, the more perfectly will the due changes of the blood be effected. The perspiration in health is an albuminous fluid excreted from the skin, containing carbon, azote, and hydrogen. The quantity per spired from a well-grown adult is estimated at two pounds in twenty-four hours. There can be no doubt but that the skin produces similar changes to the lungs and that it is also an organ of absorption. Berzelius considers the cutaneous secretion to be composed of an acid; probably the acetic or lactic acid (he says they are nearly identical), a muriate of potash, soda, acetate of soda, and, perhaps, albumen. That which evaporates is mere water. This important excretion also demands our attention. In typhus fever it is generally, indeed I might say invariably, suppressed in the commencement of that disease, and, as a consequence, the blood is still further impeded in its assimilative action, presupposing the cappillaries and lymphatic glands to be the seat of typhus fever. The skin in health throws off lactic and butyric acid, which when suppressed, are most likely carried away by the kidneys, in the form of urea, or urate of ammonia, or uric acid. Moreover, it is a fact which I may mention in support of this opinion, that all patients who suffer from gout have a dry skin, a fact which sufficiently establishes the theory, that any obstruction or cessation of action of the organs of perspiration is rectified by the exertion of some abnormal power in the kidneys. When fever has not degenerated into typhus, the perspiration is highly acid, whether this be acetous or lactic I cannot determine. In typhus fever the odour from The next secretion is the urine. The kidneys perform a high office in the animal economy, in the elimination of abnormal elements from the blood in disease. The natural properties of urine are too well known to need restating. Authors have differed much in reference to the alkalescence of urine in fever,— without doubt, the escape of the phosphates in urine, with the carbonate of ammonia and urea during the progress of typhus fever, is very general. In conclusion, I assert that ammonia, or nitrogen, is deficient in every structure as a staminal element in typhus fever; that carbon is found in larger quantities than in health in all the excretions. In typhus fever, oxygen acts by accelerating the heart's action, and depressing the nervous influence or vital power. Ammonia acts by stimulating the capillaries of the intestines, is absorbed by the lymphatic glands, and assists in the elimination of carbon from the body, and finally passes off in the compounds of the urine. The kidneys compensate for the defective function of the skin and salivary glands, by discharging matter combined with nitrogen. In tyhpus fever, I consider it is impossible to alter the duration of the disease. Venous congestion, wherever it may be found, should always be relieved by depletion, either generally or locally, despite of a feeble pulse. After giving a full dose of castor oil, the carbonate of ammonia, with tincture of opium, shonld be persisted in, namely, ten grains of the former with ten drops of the latter, every six hours, for au adult, until the return of cerebral action, or cessation of stupor with delirium, and no longer, as at that time, aperients with quinine appear to be indicated. Friction to the skin with hot lard, after ablution with warm water (96 degrees Fah.) is of the greatest benefit; as oil is absorbed by endosmosis through the veins without immediately reaching the blood; when imbibed, it combines with the albumen of the plastic constituents to form cells, which pass into the veins and serve for the nutrition of the body, and also to regulate the animal temperature. Dr. Willis read a paper before the Royal Society, "on the special functions of the skin," wherein he showed the influence which the dissipation of a certain amount of simple water by the sudoriparous glands exerted upon the current of blood returning from all the peripheral parts of the body to the heart, and insisted upon this as the means by which venous endosmose or absorption was chiefly secured showing the power of absorption and exudation in that structure. : In reference to the diet, I consider water as the first and most important requirement of the blood, in consequence of the great evolution or production of carbonic acid; secondly, good beef tea, highly seasoned with spices, and salt with barley-water or gum-water this diet to be given during the exhibition of the ammonia and opium; when quinine is indicated, then I would recommend port wine in addition to the above diet, and gradually return to a solid diet. On a general review of the foregoing observations, the most prominent symptom in typhus fever appears to be waste of the structures of the body, not simply attributable to the superiority of chemical over the vital action, but to more remote causes, viz., the quality of the air respired, and the quality and quantity of the food digested (as abstemiousness in animal food is considered beneficial by those whose experience has been great, especially in tropical climes: they observe that the less the inhabitants partake of an animal diet, the more exempt are they from fever); and the question arises, are these causes acute or chronic? I should say, decidedly chronic. It appears impossible to conceive typhus fever occurring suddenly when the blood is in a healthy state and the brain active. Experience fully attests the languor and debility of the system during the premonitory symptoms of typhus | fever. In the year 1827, when an epidemic fever of a typhoid character made its inroad along the banks of the Thames, especially in the parish of Plumstead, Kent, when the drainage was very bad, and the disease was very fatal, the premonitory symptoms were attended with great prostration of strength, with mental depression, a livid appearance of the lips, and also of the nose, dulness of the eyes, and torpor of the excretions. I had learned that moderate measures failed in arresting the attack, therefore I ordered hydr. sub. muriatis gr. x. pulv. jalapæ zi. to be taken every three hours until a copious fæcal evacuation was produced, after which action the sensorium became relieved, and an intermittent form of fever ensued about the second day after the action of the aperient, proving the necessity of early attention to congestion of the liver and intestines during the premonitory stage of typhus fever. ing REVIEW. THE LADIES' MEDICAL FRIEND; Or, a Guide to the Treatment of those Dis eases incident to Females from an early period, with advice to Mathers on the Management of Infants. By W. Hamilton Kittoe, M.D. London: Sherwood, Gilbert, and Piper, AT a first glance we were inclined to consign this volume to our lumber heap, but on a closer inspection we found it a valuable digest of all that has been published on the subject. Females of every grade will find it a useful monitor, and to the student and junior practitioner it may prove a remembrancer in the hour of need. Such a treatise has been long called for. Doubtless, numbers of talented works have been published on the diseases of females, but they have been either too technical, or so loose and indelicate as to render them unfit for the perusal of modest women. Dr. Kittoe's work may be justly termed "every woman's book." The articles on pregnancy, training, the skin, teeth, hair, and preservation of beauty, afford a fund of useful and original information, and the copious appendix of prescriptions renders it invaluable to, mothers of families and governesses. Ia a word, every woman who would know something of the ailments incident to her sex, should purchase this useful treatise. NOTICE.-All Communications and Books for Review must be addressed “To the Publisher of THE CHEMIST, 310, Strand, London." Communications must be prepaid, and sent before the 15th of each mônthi Books for Resien before the 19th. THE CHEMIST. I. CHEMISTRY. ON THE EMPLOYMENT OF IODINE TO DISTINGUISH MINUTE MARKS OF ARSENIC FROM MARKS OF ANTIMONY, IN MEDICO-LEGAL INQUIRIES.* BY M. LASSAIGNE. versed in a saucer, in the centre of which a small quantity of dry iodine, in lamellated crystals, is placed. Small porcelain capsules, of Om 025 in diameter, and Om 020 in depth, are very convenient for effecting this reaction on small narrow spots of little thickness. IN certain medico-legal inquiries, in cases of As we have observed above, the yellow poisoning by arsenic and its compounds, we spots produced by the iodination of the arseoften have to form an opinion on so minute nic disappear, by degrees, in a humid atmosa quantity, that it is not always easy to sub-phere; when this disappearance is complete, ject it to the tests made use of under such circumstances; or, at least, the effects resulting from the reaction are, in many cases, more or less equivocal. A clear and well-defined reaction, manifested on the smallest spots, adhering to porcelain vessels, in which they have been deposited, would, as it appears to us, be of great utility, particularly when it is not possible by any other method to decide on their real nature. The new species of reaction we now propose, and which we submit to the examination of chemists and toxicologists, does not prevent our acting on the products we obtain, by means of other agents now in use, which serve, in some measure, as a check upon our method of experimentising. The process to which we have been conducted, after many trials, consists in exposing marks of arsenic or antimony to the action of the small quantity of vapour formed by iodine at a temperature of from 54° to 57°. The first marks experimented on, arsenical, became of a pale-yellow brown color, which changed to a lemon-yellow in the air; in a very few minutes this color afterwards disappeared by exposure to air, or to a gentle heat. The second, or antimonial marks, placed under the same circumstances, became of a deep carmelite yellow, and this by exposure to air passed into an orange, and then remained unchanged. To produce this reaction, which takes place at the ordinary temperature in less than from 10 to 15 minutes, the porcelain capsule, on which the marks produced by Marsh's apparatus are found, must be re if we pour into the capsule in which they exist a concentrated solution of hydro-sulphuric acid, other spots of a pale lemon-yellow color will appear where the original marks existed, resulting from the transformation into yellow sulphuret of arsenic of that part of the arsenious acid that was produced by the action of humid air on the ioduret of arsenic. These fresh spots, of the same size as the first, but of another nature, instantly disappear by pouring on them a weak solution of ammonia by which they are dissolved. The ioduretted antimonial marks do not disappear by exposure to the air; placed in contact with a solution of hydro-sulphuric acid to convert them into sulphuret of antimony, of an orange-yellow color, they resist, for a moderate time, the action of weak ammonia, which affords another characteristic serving to distinguish them from arsenical spots. Although the results we have described are well defined and characteristic, we have made other experiments, by acting directly on arsenical and antimonial spots with liquids containing either free iodine in solution, or partly in combination. By the manner in which this substance acted, we have also been enabled to establish so clear and decided a distinction, that we now give the results with a certain degree of confidence. The alcoholic solution of iodine acts at once upon spots of arsenic, which it instantly dissolves, and produces, by evaporation in the open air, a lemon-yellow mark of greater or less extent. The marks of antimony remain unchanged when they are touched by the solution; but, by spontaneous evaporation in * Comptes Rendus. N.S., VOL. IV.—No. XXXVIII., February, 1846. G the air, the black antimonial mark is replaced by an orange-red mark of ioduret of antimony. The ioduret remains unchanged by a gentle heat from 86° to 104°, and the air only produces a small alteration in its color, even after several days' exposure. The solution of ioduretted hydriodic acid acts in the same manner as the alcoholic solution of iodine, but more energetically on spots of arsenic and antimony; on this account we prefer its action to that of the first liquid for establishing the nature of the spots. We have also found that the solution of the ioduretted iodide of potassium instantly destroys arsenical spots, while it does not, immediately, attack marks of antimony. All the effects noticed in the first paragraphs demonstrate the new employment of iodine as a test, and add one more characteristic to those we already possess, respecting arsenical and antimonial marks. We think the plan we have adopted may be of service in many cases; its application is so simple and easy, that it can be always successfully put in practice by those who are under the necessity of operating on very small spots. BY M. LAURENT,... CHEMISTS do not agree as to the composition of this acid. M. Regnault represents it by (C20H16+2S03) while, according to M. Berzelius, the composition of this acid ought to be (CH16 +205 + H2O); fresh analyses have conducted M. Laurent to the formula of M. Regnault, in my notation, C10H8SOS; it is also the only one that agrees with its reactions. In addition to the preceding acid, there is formed, under certain circumstances, another compound body, to which M. Berzelius has given the name of hyposulphonaphthic acid, and which, according to him, contains (C2H20 + S2O5 + H2O.) This formula, incompatible with its action, and with my equivalents, must be incorrect, I have corrected it in my book by substi tuting a formula which has the same amount of carbon as napthhaline, and represents an acid with a double base. The experiments of M. Laurent confirm my anticipations; the salt of lead of this second acid, which M. Laurent distinguishes from the first by the name thio *Journal de Pharmacie. naphthic acid, contains C10 (H6Pb2) S2O® + 2 HO. The water of this salt is only disengaged at a temperature above 391°. This is another confirmation of my law on the saturation of compound salts. M. Laurent also makes us acquainted with several derivatives of the sulphonaphthalic acid by fire, in which chlorine and bromine supply the place of the hydrogen. By acting on trichlorated naphthaline [C10 (H5C13)], by means of sulphuric acid, we obain trichlorated-sulphonaphthalic acid. The unpurified solution, neutralised by means of caustic potassa, produces an abundant crystallised deposit, the composition of which is represented by C1 (H4KC13) SO3. The trichlorated acid possesses very remarkable properties. It is extremely soluble in water and in alcohol, and it forms a crystalline mass by evaporation. It separates the strongest acids even from their combination with alkalies. When we pour it into diluted solutions of sulphate of potash or soda, chloride of barium or calcium, precipitates of trichlorated sulphonaphthalates of potassium, sodium, barium, or calcium are formed. The salts of potassium, sodium, copper, and a few other metals, form no precipitate while hot, but if allowed to cool the liquid assumes the appearance of a translucid jelly, composed of extremely long and fine needles. The precipitate from copper exactly resembles the mouldiness which is developed in solutions of tartar. Quadrichlorated-sulphonaphthalic acid is prepared, like the preceding, by employing quadrichlorated naphthaline. The salt of potassium is perhaps the least soluble in cold water of all the combinations of this metal. It is, therefore, easily prepared by adding caustic potassa to an unpurified solution of quadrichlorated naphthaline: its formula is C10 (H3CHK) SO3. Sexchlorated naphthaline does not combine with sulphuric acid. M. Laurent has also prepared bromated sulphonaphthalic acid by acting on bromated naphthaline by sulphuric acid, and neutralising it with potash. The salt of potassium, soluble with difficulty, contains 986 50 D C10 (H&BrK) SO3, entomow 1. Bibromated-sulphonap thalic acid is obtained in the same manner by means of bibromated naphthaline; the salt of potassium contains to ezia ald C10 (H5Br2K) SO3. COMBINATIONS OF CHLORINE AND BROMINE. M. Laurent's paper contains a description of new combinations of chlorine and bro mine, some of which are isomerical with the compound bodies described by M. Laurent in his large work on naphthaline; the following are these new combinations:-A new chloride of naphthaline, (CHSCH); a chlorobromide of naphthaline, [CHS (C13Br)]; a new trichlorated naphthaline, [C10 (HCI)]; abromo-nitrated naphthaline [C1o (H3BrX)]; and, finally, a very beautiful red coloring matter, which appears to contain (CHO), which we obtain by acting on naphthaline by means of a mixture of bichromate of potash, and hydrochloric-sulphuric acid. All these results are in perfect harmony with the previous experiments of M. Laurent on chlorated and bromated combinations. In conclusion, this essay of M. Laurent offers us several ideas on the acids of M. Kolbe, (sulphuretted metholates); he considers them as acids resembling sulphonaphthalic acid, and arising from the union of sulphuric acid with CH, the gas of marshy land. C (HCI), hydrochloric ether of spirit of wood. C (H2C12), chloridated hydrochloric ether. There is no doubt the formula lead easily to this supposition, and it would be interesting to verify the fact by experiment, if it should be confirmed. He proceeds to say that the homologues of these acids (sulphuretted ethylates of Loewig, sulphuretted amylates of Gerathewohl) might be also ob tained from sulphuric acid and the hydrochloric ethers of alcohol and oil of potatoes. ON THE OXIDATION OF GELATINE BY MEANS OF CHROMIC ACID.* BY M. MARCHAND. M. PERSOZ informed us some time back, that animal gelatine gave out prussic acid, when it was heated along with a mixture of bichromate of potash and sulphuric acid. This experiment, the result of which was disputed by M. Sullivan (Annal. der Chemie, vol. xliv.), has been repeated by M. Marchand (Journ. f. Prakt. Chem. xxxv). This chemist confirms the assertion of M. Persoz, but he also shows that, according to the proportions of the mixture, it sometimes happens that not a trace of prussic acid is disengaged, and that we then find, in its place, formic acid. M. Marchand has also observed, in this reaction, the formation, in a small quantity, of a volatile substance, which appears to be merely essence of bitter almonds, as well as an odoriferous acid resembling butyric acid. *Journal de Pharmacie. ON THE VOLATILE ACIDS OF CHEESE.* BY MESSRS. ILJENKO AND LASKOWSKI. FIFTY pounds of Limbourg cheese, of strong odour, were cut into small pieces, steeped in water, and submitted to distillation in a large alembic, the water that passed over was renewed for several days, to prevent the bottom of the vessel becoming red hot. In this manner, a rather clouded ammoniacal liquor was obtained; which was supersaturated with sulphuric acid, diluted, and again distilled. The product was afterwards saturated with baryta water, and the salt obtained evaporated until it crystallised. Messrs. I. and L. again extracted the acid, and also converted it into a salt of silver. Their analyses proved that this volatile acid was no other than valerianic acid C5 H1o O2. They then saponified the residuum by means of potash, decomposed the soap with sulphuric acid, diluted it with water, and again distilled it. In this manner they obtained a liquid acid, which was saturated with baryta and evaporated to crystallisation; it yielded a mixture of several salts of baryta, which were separated by taking advantage of their different degrees of solubility in water: the crude salt was then mixed with seven parts of water, and heated to the boiling point; the caproate of baryta C (H11 Ba) O2 was thus dissolved, and afterwards deposited in tolerable sized aigrettes, while the butyrate remained in the solution; this last they converted into a salt of silver C4 (H2 Ag) O2, and submitted it to analysis. The salts of baryta, that were not dissolved by the seven parts of boiling water, consisted of caprate C10 (H9 Ba) O2, and of caprylate of baryta C (H15 Ba) O2; they succeeded also in separating these by means of their different degrees of solubility. To sum up all, the cheese contained the following volatile acids: C4 H8 O2 Butyric acid. C5 H10 O2 Valerianic acid. C6 H12 O2 Caproïc acid, C8 H16 O2 Caprylic acid. Valerianic acid is found in it in the greatest C10 H20 O2 Capric acid. quantity; the presence of this body had, however, been already proved by M. Balard, in Roquefort cheese. All these acids are, as we may perceive, homologous bodies; the essay of Messrs. Iljenko and Laskowski contains also a few particulars respecting the fixed constituents of the cheese. By means of boiling alcohol, they extracted perfectly crystallised margarine, fusi * Journal de Pharmacie. |