REPORT
Q£
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\togcm rf $pncal (%mistrg.
READ BEFORE THE
MEDICAL & CHIRURGICAL FACULTY
OF MARYLAND,
Junk 8, 18'
BY LEWIS H. STEINBR, M. I).


    CHAIRMAN OF COMMITTEE ON CHEMISTRY.
."?,
A»^'

      BALTIMORE:

PRINTED BY JAMES LUCAS & SON,
     "STEAM PRESS."
    Corner of Calvert street and Lovely Lanf
1855. 
Contributions of Chemistry to Medicine:
1.........................Pathology.
2.........................Diet.
3.........................Blood  and Urine.
4.........................Materia Medica.
5...........Toxicology and Legal Medicine.
     Committee:

LEWIS H. STEINER,  M. I).
JOHN H. BRISCOE, M. D.
DAVID STEWART, M. D. 
I
   The progress of Chemistry  has been so  rapid in the present
age, that it is found, by  the  closest student, a herculean task  to
keep pace  with  it even theoretically; but to  combine an experi-
mental application of newlyViiscovered  principles with the mere
theoretical knowledge, would  involve such immense labor, that
each one shrinks from it.  Hence  we find, even among those who
have devoted their lives to the  cultivation of this science, but few
who allow themselves to work in its varied apartments.  Each
wishes to select some province, in which he can hope to labor so
as to command  all that is known of it, and, if possible, contribute
additional  discoveries.   If  this be the  case with  the chemist,
how must it be with him who is obliged  to examine the many
branches  which  belong to his professional studies, and  to keep
himself posted  up in the contributions which  each  is  making
towards  the  thorough perfection  of his profession.   The physi-
cian cannot expect to be a thorough chemist; but he must be ready
to avail  himself  of  the  lights  Chemistry sheds on  his path, and
must have  his eyes opened so as to recognize those lights.
   The committee feel that in preparing a report on Chemistry for
the  State faculty, it  is expected of them  not to travel over the
whole domain, but only that part which is  specially  interesting to
the physician.  And this is  also a  wide field.  It would require
far more  space than is allowed them for this report.   They,  there-
fore, propose introducing  short  notices  of some points  which
Chemistry  has elucidated in the past year, which seem  to them
important as  well as  interesting to the profession.
8469 
4
                              1.
  One of the problems, which the profession  has been  trying to
solve for years, is the existence  or non-existence of a local cause
for the affection called Goitre.   Its prevalence in certain  countries
for ages, seems  to point to the existence of such  a local cause.
Thus, in France, England, Spain and Germany, this " morbid en-
largement of the  thyroid  gland" is common in the neighborhood
of mountainous  districts.   In  this  country certain  localities are
notorious  for the same  reason, and it seems " to prevail as an epi-
demic."   Gibson quotes, from Trask, the statement, "that it is so
common a disorder at Windsor, in Vermont, that hardly any female
is exempt from it;" and he quotes  the  general conclusion as to
the cause, that " it prevails in valleys at the bottom of the highest
mountains,  which are particularly exposed  to the influence of
easterly and southerly  winds."*   Most  writers are disposed to
consider the disease as " most frequent  in low,  damp,  confined
spots, where the stagnant  atmosphere is  seldom stirred by whole-
some breezes; and where  the  sun  in summer has great power."|
M. Maumene has attempted the investigation of the cause of  this
disease, guided  by the lights of Chemistry, and has succeeded in
producing  some  results, which, if not  absolutely explaining the
cause, yet point the  way along which an explanation may be ob-
tained.
  M. Maumene starts out  with the idea that  there is some pecu-
liar  substance existing in   the water  which is habitually used by
those who are  afflicted  with  goitre.^  He  considers that there is
strong presumptive evidence of this, in the fact, that " successive
families have been found attacked  with goitre when they occupied
habitations  on  certain streams," and that under the same circum-
stances, goitre has been produced in animals.
  Looking at the various  substances found in our streams, his at-
tention was directed to the fluorides as those which might be  in-
jurious to health, and  he determined  to use an experimentum
crucis, to establish or refute this idea.  He subjected a small dog
to  a diet, which contained for each day, from 5 up to 50 milli-
grammes of fluoride  of calcuim.  This he changed for  fluoride of
sodium, giving at first 20 milligrammes  a  day  and  increasing up to

      * Gibson's Surgery,  II, 61-2.       f Watson's Practice, 483.
                      fThe Chemist, II, 95. 
5
120.  After some  four  months, during which period of time the
dog seemed to be in perfect health, ua general enlargement of the
neck took  place, forming a sort of collar or swelling," attracting
the notice  of strangers.   Five years have since elapsed and the
swelling has not disappeared.   Now this experiment, though not
final and conclusive in its nature, yet must direct our attention  to
the presence of  the fluorides in water as a probable cause of the
disease.   They  are often present only in very small quantities, and
without  the attention of the analyst is called  specially to them,
he might neglect them in  his  examination.   If  this experiment  of
of Maumene is supported  by additional  observations on animals,
we shall need a re-examination of the composition of the various
streams and springs which supply the countries, where  goitre pre-
vails, with drinking water.
   Attention has been directed  to the origin of sugar, heretofore
considered  a morbid product of the system.   31. Claude Bernard
some years since, proved  that  sugar  was contained  in the liver of
animals and in the blood taken from different portions of the body,
and that it had  a  part  to  perform in the normal  condition nf the
system.   Its presence in  the blood, when  food containing much
starch or saccharine matter was used, had been  previously demon-
strated.   But this presence was supposed to be only the result of
a superabundance of such principles in the food, and to be purely
pathological.   Bernard, from  a series of experiments known  to
the  profession,  took  the  ground  that  sugar  could be produced
de novo  from amylaceous principles, by  means  of the liver, which
organ was most likely the originator also of all the fatty tissues.
He considers that the two substances, fat and sugar, are vicarious
with each other.  Where  the  liver is  forming much fatty tissue,
little or  no sugar is found, and conversely, where  the liver is  gen-
erating much sugar, it is  comparatively  devoid  of fat.   The  liver
is generally of  an abnormal  size in cases of  diabetes, just as it is
in the case of drunkards.   In  the former case, the size is due  to
the  large  amount of work it has  to perform in the formation of
sugar, and in the latter, to the amount of fatty tissue  it is formino-.
Bernard  goes still further, and  states if the medulla oblongata  be
irritated, near the origin of the pneumo-gastric nerve, that the liver
begins to secrete  very large quantities of sugar, and artificial dia-
betes may thus  be produced. 
(■;
  These views of Bernard  are very important to the medical pro-
fession.  If true, then  the  treatment  heretofore of many cases of
diabetes mellitus, has been directed  wrongly.  If the  causa morli
be confined to the liver, and not at all dependent on the  nature of
the food, it becomes  important  that the morbid  condition of that
viscus should be investigated, and that a system of strict regimen,
which requires utter  abstinence from amylaceous  food, should be
done away with.  It is known to  every one that it is a difficult
matter to deprive patients  of amylaceous food.   The  stomach re-
volts  against  the sole use of nitrogenous material;  at  least  in
the manner it  is generally given.   If the treatment of the disease
does not require such regimen, then surely it is subjecting patients
to much annoyance by continuing it.
  Figuier, in January of this year, read a masterly paper before the
Academy of Sciences, in  refutation of Bernard's views, which  we
consider an  important contribution of Chemistry to Medicine, and
from which we shall  quote  at some length.   It is necessary before
doing this, to show how  Barnard's view might  be  sustained, and
what  supporters it has gained in Europe.
  Lehman, in  the first volume of  his Physiological  Chemistry,
says " sugar  cannot generally be  found in  the blood; but in  the
third  volume, written  afterwards, he believes with Bernard that
" while the portal blood contains no sugar, or only traces of that
substance, the blood of the hepatic veins is rich  in  sugar; and
states that Schmidt has shown "sugar is a  normal  constituent  of
the blood of  cats, dogs and men."*   In the  first volume, he dis-
tinctly states that in a normal state no sugar finds its way into the
urine, and proves this by  experiments made upon himself;  but
even there and afterwards, he  is willing to admit that it  may make
its appearance in the  urine voided, under attacks of other diseases
besides diabetes.
  Lehman, in a paper published in the May number of the Chem-
ist for this year, also gives the results of a number of analyses  of
the blood from the Hepatic veins and of the Vena Porta, and con-
siders, from a careful examination of them, that Bernard's opinion,
as to  the formation of sugar in the liver, is placed beyond doubt.
He says that the blood, which issues from the liver by  the hepatic
* Lehman's Phys. Chem. Ill, 467-8. 
7
veins, is always the most saccharine blood of the body.  Bernard,
in his remarks on this paper of Lehman, considers that the gluco-
genic function of the liver is  an established fact, and states, as the
only subject now remaining  to be examined, the question, "what
are the elements of the blood which the liver turns to account for
the production  of saccharine matter."  The weight of Lehman's
name may thus be considered  as  on  the side  of  Bernard's view.
Carpenter and others incline  to this view :
   The sugar found constantly in the blood is not the common glu-
cose, but another variety.  And M. Bernard assumes, as this sugar,
which may be the same as the variety called Inosite, (discovered by
Scherer in muscular juice,) is found both in the  blood of carnivora
and herbivora, that it  cannot invariably proceed  from  the meta-
morphosis of starchy articles of food.   We must admit that where
such substances form  a large portion of the ingesta, as with the
herbivora, that  the action of  the saliva,  pancreatic and other juices
will convert them into sugar.  But where they are not  present in
the ingesta, .then if sugar be  found, we must be ready  to adopt the
view that  it is formed from fibrin and the albuminous, portions of the
food generally, according to Berzelius and Liebig.*  Yet with this
view, we  are not obliged to hold that the liver has  alone the
power of causing the metamorphosis of protein compounds into sac-
charine matter, unless we  find by actual observation that there is
an augmentation of saccharine matter  in  the  blood,  which  has
passed through the  hepatic veins,  much above that contained by it
before it entered them.  And on this  point, Figuier rests his argu-
ment, in his paper " on the  origin of the  sugar contained in the
liver,"f and though his  results differ from those  of Lehman, yet
we think  it  important, in a question like this, not to base our opin-
ions upon the dicta of either, but to examine with  care and delibe-
ration, the results of the experiments which they have performed.
He commenced his  experiments by making  a  chemical examina-
tion of  the soluble matters found in the liver.   He finds that inde-
pendent of the  blood, these may be divided into three classes : I,
an albuminoid matter, resembling Mialhe's Mbuminose; II, glucose
or grape sugar; III, mineral  salts, chloride of sodium and others.
With reference to the second, which he  obtains by evaporating in
* Lehman, III, 216-7.
t Chemist, II, 346. 
8
vacuo, a watery infusion of the liver, and when nearly dry, adding
pieces of caustic lime, and then dissolving it out by means of hot
alcohol;  and with  reference to its saccharine nature, no  doubt
can be entertained, since  it readily ferments.   Thus  far  he only
repeats Bernard's  first experiment, (184S) that sugar could be dis-
covered in the liver.  He goes further  however, and shows glucose
in normal blood.  The blood  is quickly deprived of its fibrin ;
then  the liquid  portion is  mixed with  three times  its weight of
alcohol  at 36.°C  " After a few minutes, the blood is completely
coagulated into a clod of a beautiful red, by the simultaneous pre-
cipitation of the globules and of the albumen of the serum.  It is
then strained through a piece of cambric muslin and  pressed, and
the residue  is washed  with a little  alcohol.  The  liquid  when
filtered,  passes through almost colorless, manifesting an alka-
line re-action."  Acetic acid is added  to give it a slight acid re-ac-
tion.  Evaporation  on  a sand bath is resorted to.   At first this
process  throws down " the last remains of coagulated albumen,"
and the  residue contains glucose united with some mineral salts.
The glucose is proven by the readiness with which  it deoxidizes
the copper of Trommer's liquor, giving the well known brick-red
precipitate  of the  sub-oxide  of copper.   The glucose was  also
proven by its undergoing fermentation.
   The result of these experiments on the blood, shows that there
was in the blood of a rabbit 0.57 per cent, of glucose, while  the
liver of  this animal contained 1.0 per cent.   In the  blood of the
ox there was 0.48 gr. per cent., and  in the blood  of  man 0.58 gr.
   From  his experiments then he finds that " the liver would con-
tain, in  equal weight, scarcely twice as much sugar  as the blood
contained in the other parts  of the body."   He accounts for the
difference by the acknowledged fact, that the liver is the organ used
for the depuration of the blood,—and that all the glucose arising
during digestion  is concentrated in it, afterwards  to  be sent into
the circulation.   His conclusion is then evident so far as regards
the presence of sugar  in the system, that it comes  from without
either as  sugar, or as starch or gum which is converted  in the
digestive process into sugar.
   He meets the question, with reference to the occurrence of sugar
in the blood of  carnivora,  by assuming that these animals  being 
9
fed  on the flesh of the herbivora, this  flesh always must contain
in the vessels, which permeate it, blood  containing sugar;  and
hence  that  the  sugar was  introduced  from  without, small in
quantity, "but it was  constant and the liver being an organ of con-
densation and accumulation as regards glucose, it is not surprising
that the  proof of its  existence  in  this  organ  was found after
death."
  His conclusion is " that the liver in man and in  animals has not
received the function of forming sugar, and  that all the glucose
which it contains  in  its tissues comes from without, that is  to say,
from the nourishment."
  This important subject is  now being very thoroughly investiga-
ted by European students  of Zoochemistry.   Whichever view be
correct, as to the origin of the sugar, we must not forget that this
substance seems, by  nature, to be intended  as a transitionary con-
dition of starch, in  its conversion into fat and lactic acid—the latter
being the principal constituent of the gastric fluid, and in combina-
tion with the alkalies supporting  animal heat by the facility with
which it is  converted  through the oxygen in the blood into car-
bonic acid.  If the glucose  be a transitionary condition, and its
presence in the blood becomes so large that the kidneys are forced
to remove it from the system,—it is a just demand, on  the  part of
the physician,  of the chemist, that he should suggest some mode
of  causing the glucose to advance to the stage of the formation of
lactic acid.   Dr. W.  Bird Herapeth, in  a late paper,* offers a sug-
gestion that yeast or  Torula cerevisice be employed to produce this
effect.  The Doctor says, that "glucose,  under ordinary  circum-
stances, at a temperature of 60° to 70°  F would  be converted into
alcohol  and carbonic acid by  the fermentative  agency of  torula
cerevisiae or yeast, as is very well known to most persons;  but  if
the action were to  take place in the dark, in the  presence of albu-
minous  substances or other  protein compounds, and at a tempera-
ture of 98° F., the products  would be lactic and acetic acids, with
possibly alcohol and  carbonic acid.   It  is clear, therefore, that the
former products would assist in the conversion of the protein com-
pounds, as in the normal state of digestion, and would  pass out of
the system  in  combination with some alkaline or earthy base, and
2
* Chemist I, 568. 
10
 be  eliminated by the kidneys, skin, or other emunetories; whilst
 the alcohol and carbonic acid would act as agreeable vital stimuli,
 whilst existing  in the system, and  could  eventually escape by the
 pulmonary mucous membrane, after having perhaps served to assist
 the respiratory  process, being thus converted into carbonic acid
 and water."
   Acting under an impression of the  truth of  these  views, he
 treated a patient whose urine (Sp. gr. 1044,)  contained 850 grains
 of sugar to the imperial pint, at the beginning of the treatment.   In
 two days the Sp.gr., was reduced to 1020, and the amount of sugar
 to 300 grs.  In six weeks the sugar disappeared, and the patient
 recovered his health, strength, and was recovering his flesh.
  The form of  yeast used was that prepared on the  continent by
 expressing  the liquid  article, obtaining in this way a  semi-fluid
 mass,—of which he gave a  table-spoonful in milk, two or  three
 times daily.   There is no doubt that the common  yeast of the
 brewery would answer,—and the mode of treatment of this disease,
 thus suggested by chemistry, merits notice.
  Headland, in an article on  Diabetes, suggests "milk just turned
 sour, as containing a decomposing caseine, which  transmutes sugar
into lactic acid.*
  For those who hold with Figuier, that the sugar depends entirely
 on the nature of the ingesta, which opinion, it will be recollected,
 was advanced  primarily by Bouchardat in 1838,—it will  be inter-
 esting to  know that M. Durand, a baker of Toulouse, has succeed-
 ed in making gluten bread, which does not excite disgust in the
patient, and which affords excellent nutriment.!  He prepares his
 gluten by washing wheat flour until all the starch is removed, and
 by peculiar  processes not given in the article by M. Durand, suc-
ceeds in making a bread nutritious and palatable.  The large quan-
tities of gluten lost annually in all our starch manufactories, might
be turned to good account, if it were used in the preparation of this
gluten bread which has been found not only useful in Diabetes, but
as suited  to cases of dyspepsia, gastritis and many other  diseases.
  Without  wishing to occupy the  time of the faculty any longer
on this subject, and yet satisfied with its importance and  its claims

  * Western  Lancet, May, 1855—copied from London Lancet.
  f Chemist,  II, 87. 
11
to a large share of our notice, the committee have to conclude this
portion of the report, with the opinion that the origin of Diabetes,
is by no means fully explained as yet—and although the experi-
ments of Figuier seem completely to  refute the  theory of M. Ber-
nard, this theory is supported by some pathological circumstances
seemingly unexplainable by any other.  Thus Dr. Frerichs* reports
a case of fatty liver  in a girl  of nine years old, complicated with
ascites.   It was necessary to resort to the operation of paracentesis
for the latter—and the liquid thus obtained was found rich in sugar.
When more cases shall be  collected bearing on this subject, we
shall be better prepared to deduce our conclusions.  The number
of cases is too small  to justify that  kind of induction, which will
give us the truth, freed from all possibility of error.  Therefore it
is expected of every  medical philosopher, not to attach himself to
the  theory of any man, be his position and reputation great  or
small, unless the touchstone of experience—the experience of such
as are fitted to judge of facts  by  their previous habits of study—
shall verify the theory, and show  its truth, freed from all  crude and
ill-digested peculiarities.
                               II.
   The committee think it will not be foreign to the design of this
report, to introduce  some of the  novel suggestions, made by dis-
tinguished European chemists with reference to various  articles of
food now in use by man, or  recommended to be used in a state of
health.  Hygiene  is by no  means an unimportant subject for the
study of the physician, and diet occupies a very prominent position
among the various means which  are  to  be  considered as bearing
directly upon health.  The  distinguished chemist Liebig, has not
thought it  beneath  his notice, to investigate  the best mode of pre-
paring a broth for the sick, which  should be available in  many
forms  of  disease—especially at the commencement of  convales-
cence.'!'
   It seems, that "a  young  lady  of eighteen years  in his  family
being ill with typhoid fever," her physician, Dr. Pfeufer, suggested
to the Baron that, " in a certain  stage of  this  disease,  the greatest
difficulty met  with by the physician  lay in incomplete digestion, a
  "■'Chemical Gazette. XII, 364.
  f '' A new broth for the sick," translated from the German  of Liebig, for
the X. Y. Tribune, by a lady of Washington.   Copied in the Ohio  Medical
Counsellor,  April 7, isr>.">. 
12
consequence of the condition of the intestines, and, besides, in the
want of a nutriment proper for digestion  and for the formation of
blood."  Whenever  heat is used in the preparation  of broth, the
latter is deficient  in  those constituents which are  required for the
formation of blood.   It was desirable that the meat-albumen should
be present, and  other constituents not usually contained in  our
broths.
  Liebig recommends the  following receipe; "for one portion of
broth take half pound of freshly killed meat,  (beef or  chicken,) cut
it in small pieces, add to it 1^-  pound  of distilled  water, to which
has been added four  drops of pure chlorhydric (muriatic) acid,  and
half to one  drachm of  common salt; mix  them well together.
After standing an  hour, the whole is strained through a conical hair
sieve, such as is  ordinarly  used in the kitchen, allowing it to pass
through  without  squeezing. The  portion passing  through  first
being cloudy,  it is again poured through the sieve,  and this process
repeated until  it becomes perfectly clear.  Upon the residue of the
meat remaining  in  the sieve, half a pound  of distilled water is
poured in small  proportions.   In this manner about one pound of
liquid (cold  extract of meat) is  obtained, of a red color, and pleas-
ant meat broth taste.  It is administered to  the sick, cold, by the
cup-full, according to their inclination. It must not  be heated, as
it becomes cloudy thereby, and a thick coagulum of meat,  albu-
men and hematin is deposited."
  This broth  is  certainly  far  more  nutritious  than the beef tea
which has heretofore been  used, since it  contains, in addition to
the  gelatine  of that  compound, albumen, hematin, (with the iron
contained in it,) and a amall portion of acid which contributes to
its ready digestion.   Care must be taken in warm weather that it
be kept in a cool place, as  it undergoes a  species of fermentation
in the warm.
  Liebig has  seen  this used in  a  case of ovarian inflammation,
when the patient  could not  take  solid  food.  Life was sustained
for two months on  this broth; flesh and  strength were regained
and health restored.  He says that " patients generally take this
food without opposition so  long  as they are ill;  as  soon as they
can take other food, they reject this, perhaps owing to the  color
and  the faint  meat odor.   It might be in many  cases  of use to
color the broth brown by adding burnt sugar." 
V)
  Some  of  the  most celebrated physicians  in Munich use  this
broth in their  hospital and private  practice.   It seems to furnish
the desideratum in  certain cases where the  disease has been ar-
rested, indeed cured, but owing to  the feeble condition of the di-
gestive organs, sufficient material  cannot be  appropriated to meet
the wants of the system, and the patient dies  of sheer debility, not
having strength  enough to meet the varied necessities which a con-
valescent body requires.
  Liebig has contributed a paper to the " Annalen der Chemie und
Pharmacie," on a  mode  of freeing  bread from acidity, and of
making a good article from damaged flour."*   Years ago it  was
known that  the Belgian bakers formed a good article of bread from
damaged flour, and  indeed increased the quantity and whiteness of
that which  could  be made from  good flour,  by the  addition of
alum and sulphate  of copper.   Normandy  speaks  of the  use of
alum for this purpose being so  common in London, that (with but
one exception) he has invariably found it  in bread  obtained even
from bakers of the highest respectability in that  city.  Whatever ef-
fect its use may have upon the appearance of the bread, its presence
must be detrimental, when admitted day after day with each meal,
into the animal system.  The rationale for its  action on the bread
is given by Liebig in this way, first: "all  panification is princi-
pally due to  the  presence of gluten, which has the  property of
condensing  water, fixing  the liquid under  a  form similar to that
under which it  is found  in muscular tissues and  in coagulated al-
bumen, substances  which  do not  communicate  moisture to dead
bodies, although they contain water."   Owing to this  property, it
forms paste readily  with  starch.   When  gluten is baked in the
form of bread, freed from starch, as already mentioned by the pro-
cess of M. Durand, it may be kept an  indefinite length of time.
But when kept in the form of flour it is hygrometic and attracts
so much moisture as to lose its viscid character, to  become solu-
ble in water and unfit for panification.  Now, the alum  forms with
this metamorphosed gluten, under the influence of the heat of the
oven, a combination, by means of which  this  proteic substance
recovers  its original qualities  and again becomes insoluble  and
hygroscopic."

   * Chemist, II, 343,  and Journal de Pharmacie et de  Chimie, xxvii,  75. 
14
  Liebig proposes  to  produce  this  effect  by  the  use of lime,
which, instead of being a  disadvantage to the system  like alum,
would be an important addition, as it is  a  necessary constituent of
bones.   By  the  admixture of lime  water, a  light,  spongy  and
elastic bread is produced, which is  perfectly free from acid, and
has such a peculiarly agreeable taste that those accustomed to its
use are said to prefer to it to all other kinds of bread.
  The lime is used in the form of lime water, and as 500 grammes
of lime require 300 quarts of water to effect the solution, we shall
find that  the proportion of lime present in  the bread must be quite
small.  The  proportions of flour and lime water are  in the ratio
of 19 to 5,  (52 litres of lime water to the metrical quintal of flour.)
The flour is first kneaded  with the lime water; the yeast is after-
wards added ;  and after the panary fermentation has taken place,
more flour is added to the  dough  before baking.   The yield  is said
to be greater, owing to more water being  taken  up by the gluten,
under  the  influence of the presence of the lime.  Liebig found
that  19  lbs. of flour would give 24| lbs.  of bread when kneaded
without  lime  water; when  five  quarts  of the  latter  were used,
there was  produced from 26  pounds 6 ounces, to 26 pounds 10
ounces.  He  concludes his article by the statement that it is " a
physiological  truth, established  by experience, that corn flour is
not a perfectly alimentary substance; administered alone,  in  the
state of bread, it does not  suffice for sustaining life;  from all  that
we know, this insufficiency is  owing to the want  of  the lime so
necessary for the  formation of the  osseous  system.   The phos-
phoric acid likewise  required, is  sufficiently represented  in  the
corn, but lime is less  abundant  in it than in leguminous  plants.
This circumstance gives, perhaps, the key  to many of  the diseases
which are  observed among prisoners, as  well  as among children
brought up in the country, where the diet consists essentially of
bread; in this  respect, the  lime  water  bread deserves perhaps to
attract the notice of chemists."
  It will be understood  that  by the term corn is meant  wheat,
rye,  &c.; farinaceous grains used for food.
  A word here may be not out of place as to the nutritive properties
of bran or  the husk of the grain, which is rejected in the process
of bolting.  This substance has been  carefully examined by M. 
IT)
 Poggiale,'5 and his conclusious are adverse to the generally re-
 ceived opinion that its absence really deprives  the  meal of much
 nutriment  matter, and that unbolted meal contains  a much larger
 proportion of nutriment matter than fine flour.  The latter position
 is held  by Prof. Johnston, of Europe, and was supported by Prof.
 Lewis C.  Beck,  in his "report on  the breadstuff's  of the  U. S.,"
 made Jan. 1, 1850, to the Patent Office.   Poggiale shows that  the
 conclusions are incorrect which chemists  have arrived at, because
 there is only from  5.73  to 9.42  per  cent, of cellulose left back
 after bran  has been treated with boiling water, acids and alkalies,
 that therefore all  the remaining portion is  nutritious.    He says this
 remaining portion consists largely of non-assimilable  matter, sub-
 stances not alimentary as  coloring, extractive, resinous, gummy
 matter,  &c.
  Why is  it, however, that bran  bread, that is  bread made from
 unbolted  meal, is prescribed by  physicians "against  constipation
 and  disposition to cerebral congestion?"   Mons.  H. M. Mouriesf
 quotes  from Magendie the statement  that  dogs will  live on bran
 bread, but will die if fed on white  bread alone, and then goes on to
 say that this cannot be explained by the large amount of nitrogen
 contained in the proximate  principles  of  the bran, since  the latter
 contains but a small quantity as compared with  white flour.  He
 proposes as a solution to  the question, the fact that  the internal
 surface  of  the bran contains a small quantity of peculiar nitroge-
 nous  principles, which are readily soluble in  warm  water, and  are
 possessed  of the  property  of liquefying  starch  and  changing it
 into dextrine and sugar.   Although these peculiar nitrogeneous
 principles of bran, according  to the  showing of M.  Poggiale, may
 not be so  nutritious in themselves, yet, according to  Mouries, they
 may have  the  property of hastening panification and  digestion.
 By an  experiment tried on  a definite quantity  (130 grammes) of
 bran and white bread,  this  fact was  shown:  They  were respect-
ively bruised along with 520 grammes of water, and exposed to a
temperature of 104°  F. for three  hours.   The  first was divided
with ease  and assumed the  appearance  of a milky mixture; the

                        * Chemist I, 100.
                        f Chemist, I, 220. 
lb'
second that of a half  solid mass.  When filtered, the following
results were obtained :
  „    .    ,     ?  Soluble matter, dried at 212° F.,----59.35
  Bran bread :   J  Jnsoluble  ^..................69>75
White bread
Soluble matter,....................9.03
Insoluble matter,.................120 25
  The value of bran bread, it will be seen is not in preventing con-
stipation by the mechanical presence of its  coarse particles, but
in facilitating  the changes which the amylaceous portions of the
food must undergo,  before they enter  the system, and thus prevent-
ing accumulations which may give rise to constipation.
  Attention has been directed  to the impure milk now sold in our
cities, and various means  have been  adopted, both  by the strong
arm of the law and  by the promulgation of scientific means for de-
tecting its presence, to prevent its introduction into use.   Even,in
its unadulterated form, we find it is mostly furnished from animals
which  have been fed  on  swill slop—which  ensures  an abundant
secretion from the mammary glands, of such a pernicious character
however that it cannot fail, when used for a long time, to  produce
disease.  In its adulterated form, we  find either pure milk or swill
slop milk adulterated with a number of articles—water to  increase
the  quantity, starch  or chalk to  give it a white color  and a  some-
what milky appearance,  sheeps  brains (previously well triturated
in a mortar,)  to give it  the creamy consistence, annatto  to give
cream color, &c, See.   It was proposed by means of railroad com-
munications, that the dealers in large  cities might be furnished with
a pure  and  unadulterated  article.   This however cannot be done in
warm weather very  well, since the souring of the milk by  the heat
makes  the article comparatively  valueless.  For  some years it has
been proposed to adopt a plan, by which milk could  be solidified
and thus become capable of transportation without injury.   This
has been accomplished, and  is  now successfully  carried  on at
Amenia, some 20 or 30 miles east of Poughkeepsie, N. Y., by Mr.
Blatchford.
  A gentleman, who was  present with the committee  from the N.
Y. Academy  of  Medicine, during their  examination of the estab-
lishment, in last autumn, writes a description  of the process of pre-
paration and  uses  to  which  this important preparation  can  be 
17
  applied.*   Twenty-eight pounds of Stuart's sugar were mixed with
  112 lbs of milk, and a little bicarbonate of soda to counteract and
  neutralize  any acidity that  may be  present.   "The  sweet milk is
  then poured into evaporating pans of enameled iron, embedded in
  warm  water heated  by steam."   By means of a  thermometer in
  the water,  a fixed  degree of temperature  is maintained.   "To fa-
  cilitate the evaporation—by means of blowers  and other  ingenious
  apparatus—a  current of air is established between  the  covers of
  the pans and the milk."  The milk is stirred but slightly so as not
  to  churn it.  In about three hours, it assumes a pasty consistence;
  and, by after treatment, is reduced into a powder, which when cool
  is  compressed  into  blocks  of  a pound  weight, by means  of a
  heavy  press.
    This solidified  milk when dissolved in water was found to give
  off, like liquid milk, cream, which could be converted into butter.
  In  every particular it seems  to be equal to the best fresh milk.
   The committee have introduced this subject by way of attracting
 attention to it, on the part of the members of the Faculty, resident
 in the city  of Baltimore.   Our milk is probably not as bad as that
 furnished the  New Yorkersf—but  it is too impure, as  a general
 thing,  to be employed  for family use.   Might  not this solidified

   * American Medical Monthly,  II, 315.
   f The  city  authorities of Baltimore have recently passed  an  ordinance with
 reference to the adulterations of milk, containing the following sections :
   Section 2.  And be it enacted and ordained, that it shall not be lawful for any
 person or persons to adulterate milk offered for sale or sold within the limits
 of the city of Baltimore, by mixing therewith water,  chalk or any drug or
 other article whatsoever, under a penalty of not less than  twenty dollars for
 each and every offence, one half to go to the informer and the other half for
 the use of the city.
   Sec. 3.  And be it enacted and ordained, that any person or persons who shall
 offer for sale any milk  of a diseased cow within the limits of the city of Balti-
 more, shall pay a fine of  twenty dollars for each and every offence, one half
 to go to the informer and the balance to the use of the city.
   This is taking one step  towards banishing a nuisance from our community.
 The  query, however,  naturally arises as  to the mode  of ascertaining  these
 adulterations.  How can  this  be  done, unless Dr. Hassall's suggestion,  with
 reference  to the adulterations of food in general  in the city of London, be
adopted ?  That is, by the establishment of a board with analytical chemists,
whose duty it  must be to detect adulterations and to bring the offenders under
the penalties of the law.
        3 
18
milk afford us an excellent means of obtaining an article reliable
because pure—and might not the agricultural  portions of our state
find  in the preparation of this article a  fruitful source of profit to
themselves as well  as  of benefit  to  the citizens  of our  great
city?
  The use of coffee and tea as regular beverages has been discussed
by M. J. Lehmann, in a late paper,* with the following results; the
quantity of the  urine was increased  by it when taken after the
habit has been given up for some time, and the  solid materials of
the urine were notably diminished.   The following propositions
are deduced from some carefully performed experiments :  1.  "Cof-
fee exerts two distinct  actions on the economy, which  appear difi-
cult to  reconcile—augmenting the activity  of  the  vascular and
nervous systems, and lessening the rapidity of the metamorphosis
of the tissues.  2. The salutary state of excitement produced by the
use of coffee  is due to the simultaneous action of the empyreumatic
oil and caffeine.  3. The comparatively slow intimate  decomposi-
tion must be  attributable principally to the empyreumatic oil,  caffe-
ine contributing  to  this effect only when acting in rather  large
doses."
   Dr. Bocker found, by comparing results with the  use of water
alone  and with  tea alone, that the fasces, urine  and perspiration,
were diminished with  the latter, and  the daily loss  of weight by
these means was not as great as when water was used alone.
                              III.
   The journals  bring us, with each month, accounts  of new reme-
dial agents, proposed to  meet different therapeutic indications, and
also, what is  of still more  importance, new facts connected with
those  which  we  have been using for years.   Among the  latter
may be mentioned the  new experiments which are being perform-
ed, from time to  time, with  cod liver oil.  But few years have
elapsed since the first proposal of this substance, and yet a host of
suggestions have been  made as to the  cause of its action.   At first
it  was attributed to the amount of iodine it  contained   This,
however, was proven to be present in so  homeopathic a quantity,
that the suggestion militated against reason.   Then it was stated,
that in Phthisis, there was required some substance  to supply the
                        * Chemist, I, 287. 
19
 fatty matter which was needed to keep up animal  heat by its oxi-
 dation.  Hence cod liver oil acted as a combustible  material, and
 if its only use was as a fatty fuel for the  system, as the defenders
 of this  theory boldly asserted, any other oil  would  do as well.
 Indeed a prominent lecturer on Physiology, some years  since,
 warmly defended the use  of all sorts of oil as equally advantageous
 with cod liver oil  in Phthisis.   These  are but two out of the
 large numbers of theories advanced  on this subject.   It is pleas-
 ant  to  see  that  experimenters are  now  looking into the changes
 which this substance produces in the blood  itself,  and from these
 deriving useful data for the use of the profession.
   Mr. Dugald Stewart* analyzed some  blood, with  reference to
the effect of a course of this oil,  which was fonnd, as  exhibited in
the  following table, to increase  the  red  corpuscles.   The  same
quantity of blood was taken in each case:

                                  Red Corpuescles.       Fibrine.
  First stage, before  the  use of  )  Female,. .129.26     4.52
 Cod Liver Oil,        5  Male,____116.53   13.57
age, after the use  of   >  Female,.. 136.47    5.00
 Cod Liver Oil,        $  Male,____141.53    4.70
   Third stage, after the use of   )  ,r ,
           Cod Liver Oil,         \  Male,... .138.7-1     2.23

   The  benefit  of this kind  of  experiment  consists, in  its not
 being based upon any special theory, but being carried on for the
 purpose of gaining facts from which  afterwards theories may  be
 formed.
   The examination of the blood with reference  to  changes pro-
 duced in it by  disease, is  effecting many  results important in a
 pathological point of view.   The committee have only room here
 to notice one.  In a case of epilepsy,! occurring at Toronto, the
 blood of the patient was examined by Mr. Stratford, in the hope of
finding  something that might point to the cause of the complaint.
After the red  corpuscles  were broken  up  by  absorbing  water,  a
number  of cellae  form bodies  were found, generally ovate and
which were proven to be starch corpuscles,  both by their  form and

                   * Chemical Gazette, XII, 275.
    f Quarterly Journal of Microscopical Science, (January, 1855,) 168. 
20
the chemical test of iodine.  Since this case, these corpuscles have
been found in the matter of fungus haemalodes, and  also in speci-
mens of urine.   What may be the full pathological import of this
cannot be stated now, though Mr. Stratford suggests with reference
to their  form in  the blood—that there, they may  exist only as
granules, yet when removed  from the dense fluid (the blood,) to
one of less density, (water) they take up this latter fluid and then
assume the appearance of corpuscles.
   Dr. Hassall of England, has shown* that indigo is a more com-
mon constituent of the urine than was suspected when its presence
was first detected in this secretion.   Its composition consists of a
large quantity of carbon and a  small quantity of nitrogen.   Hassall,
in his communication to the Royal Society, suggests  from its close
alliance with haematin and urine  pigment,  that " it forms a vehicle
for the elimination of any excess  of carbon contained  in the sys-
tem.  This view is borne out by the important fact that the greater
number of cases in which indigo has been observed to be developed
in the urine in  large amount, have been  cases of extensive tuber-
cular disease of the lungs, and  in which the decarbonizing functions
of these organs are greatly impaired.
   Von Sicherert found  no abnormal condition in urine containing
indigo, with respect to  the amount of uric acid, urea, chloride of
soduim, phosphates, &.c, and that changing the kind of food used,
produced no special alterations.   He states, that this blue coloring
matter was not betrayed by mere spontaneous deposition, but was
separated on the addition of  nearly an  equal  quantity of fuming
chlorhydric acid, or dilute sulphurie  and  nitric acid.  The urine
assumes gradually a reddish  brown color, and the  coloring sub-
stance  is  found as  a blue froth on shaking, or as a reddish blue
film on standing for some time.   It is, when dry, of a blue color
with a coppery tinge, sublimes at 537° F., and forms crystals agree-
ing in form, color and properties with  those  of sublimed  indigo,
and furnishes a dark blue solution with  concentrated  sulphuric
acid.
   Much has been done in the way of studying  the properties  of
urine,  both microscopically   and  chemically,  during  the  twelve
* Chemical Gazette, XII, 320.
t Chemical Gazette, XII, 267. 
21
   months which have elapsed since the last meeting of the Faculty
   Though our knowledge of the  normal  constitution of and patho^

   K?s: m;he urine'is by n°means as fcU "*™  *
    rXfrom ch     ? ^f th°S6 rGSUltS' <™P^ ardently
   p edict, from chemical and microscopical examination of urinary
   thT    T "r86-761 GVery ^ S6ems to b* b-ging us towa  s
   tha point.  Many of the dicta of the  too confident urinoscopt
   -11 have  to  be recalled; but this will only open the way for  a
   more reasonable series of theories, althoug/they should  be b ,1
   at  the  expense  of the wrecks of other theories, which were no
    ased  upon truth.  New substances are now found  in the urine
   heretofore  not discovered by other observers-among which may
   be  mentioned silicate of iron, by M, Harley of  Engfand,  and The
   spontaneous deposition of creatine without the use of any chemical
   tests whatever from urine  voided  in a certain form of dyspepsia
   observed by Prof.  Miltenberger of  the University of Maryland
   This department is quite promising to  the investigating physician
   as being but little  cultivated, although abounding in much that is
   important and useful to our common profession.

                               IV.
    As a  contribution to the Materia Medica, M. Thoulose proposes
  an infusion  of roasted acorns to  be used as an adjuvant to quinia
  in cases of  Intermittent fever.  It seems that it destroys the bitter-
  ness of quinia without altering  in any way its therapeutic qualities.
  The principle  extracted from  the  acorn  is  doubtless a form of
  tannic acid; but the tannate of  quinia formed with this kind of
  tannic acid  is insoluble at  the moment  of administration  and is
  consequently tasteless, and hence  would  be desirable in cases
  where quinia is required to be administered continuously for some
 days.  The infusion of acorns may also contain some aesculin
 a bitter  principle  first discovered  by TrommsdorfF in  the bark of
 the horse chesnut.
   Thoulouse observed  that  a decoction of  roasted acorns  dimin-
 ished the  secretion of the urine in such a way, as to  make it quite
 desirable  in  cases of  incontinence  arising  from relaxation of
 bladder, &c.
   The last committee on chemistry noticed M. Melsens suggestion
of the iodide of potassium treatment in all diseases resulting from 
22
the deposit of lead in the animal tissues.  Dr. Corson of New
York, has since published an article on  this subject, which fully
substantiates  this plan  of treatment.  As a proof  of the large
quantities of this medicament which may be borne, one of Dr.  C's
cases took five grains  three times a day for eleven months.   Dr. C,
notices also the fact, which is familiar now to the experience of
many of  the Faculty,  who  have used  this treatment, that the lead
is  eliminated sometimes so rapidly that the symptoms of lead poi-
soning are  wonderfully exaggerated under the use of the  iodide.
The salivation, which occasionally results after  the remedy  has
been employed for awhile, is never present, unless mercury  has
been previously taken and  become fixed  as it were in the tissues.
Hence is seen also the propriety of following up a long course of
mercurial treatment, with  the  iodide of potassium as a means of
removing any ill effects of the mercury.

                              V.
   Prof. Doremus of New  York, has been doing  good  service to
the cause of public hygeine by his paper on the " poisonous effects
of soda water from copper fountains and  lead pipes."*   His atten-
tion was  attracted  to  the subject by the  sudden  illness of  several
persons immediately after drinking a single glass of mineral water.
In some  soda water examined, on boiling off the excess of carbo-
nic acid,  a green scum of carbonate of copper arose to the surface,
which yielded as much as one grain and a half of  metallic copper.
The condensers are generally made of copper, which are said to be
lined with tin.  This coating however, even if well put on, is liable
to be removed in part by chemical and mechanical action.  Then
the carbonic  acid  slowly  causes the  formation  of a  carbonate,
which is soluble  in carbonic  acid  water.  The longer  the water
remains  in the condenser, the more  copper will  it contain under
these circumstances.
   The condensers  examined  by Prof. D., however, were often
found to be lined with tin mixed with soft solder, and  the  lead in
the latter of course was readily destroyed—leaving the  interior of
the vessel more or  less denuded of its lining and exposed to the
action of the water.
* American Medical Monthly, 11—25 and 137. 
23
     It had been known for years, that injurious  effects have occa-
  sionally resulted from the  use of soda water, and this had always
  been  attributed to  the lead  pipes  through which  the water  was
  forced before  it reached the fountains.  Honest  vendors of the
  article, aware of this, employed tin pipe for the conveyance of the
  water.   But  these  experiments  of Doremus, show that still more
  caution is to  be employed in  order to prevent an agreeable beverage
  becoming an  insidious poison.                                °
     As  to  the  effects of the  copper not being more generally expe-
  rienced as dangerous, Doremus remarks, that the cases are not few
  in New York where immediately after drinking soda waters, par-
  ties were seized with vomiting, epigastric pain, &c;  and that -it is
  probable the  syrups which are  the usual accompaniments of  the
  soda draught  act in many cases as antidotes."   He suggests, that
  this poisoned soda water may be an exciting  cause of cholera in
  those  predisposed to it, and during its pievalence.
    The mode  of preventing all  danger  is to have the condensers
  well tinned, and the connecting pipe composed of pure tin, or what
  is still better  to have the condensers made of stone  ware, as in
  Boston, "covered externally with copper and  circlets of  iron to
  secure strength."
    The  season is now  here when great quantities of this beverage
  are employed, and we should be prepared not only to understand
  apparent anomalous  cases  of poisoning that may arise in this way,
  but, as  conservators of the public health, to warn against the use of
  mineral waters unless  obtained from those who are  known to  be
 careful  in  their preparation.  It is true according to the experiments
 of Wackenroder,* that  the blood may contain very small quantities
 of copper without injury,  yet  where it is admitted  so freely into
 the system as  in the  way just spoken of, pernicious consequences
 must result.
   A case of poisoning  by the  eating of a root, is  recorded  in the
 papers of the day as having taken place in Baltimore county in the
 month of  April.  Judging by  the symptoms, it is presumed the
 root was that of the aconitum uncinatum.  There was severe epi-
gastric pain, vomiting, general coolness of surface, spasmodic move-
ments of the limbs;  the whole  series closing with death before

                   * Chemical Gazette,  XII, 176. 
24
medical aid could be made available.   Two cases are reported in
English journals of death* through the tincture of the  same vege-
table, being administered in large dose.  One case of poisoning by
the same substance  which however yielded  to  treatment, came
under the  knowledge of the Chairman of the Committee, during
last summer.  The patient took too large a dose of the officinal
tincture—and was  seized with the special symptoms of poisoning
by aconite—burning in the throat and  stomach, foaming  at  the
mouth, an obscuration of vision, epigastric pain, spasmodic  move-
ments of the  limbs, vomiting, &c.   The case  was successfully
treated with alcoholic stimuli, and aqua  ammonia; it is believed
that this treatment preceded by active emesis, in the early stages of
such cases  will generally be effectual.
  An interesting  case of the detection of cyanhydric or prussian
acid is published in the Comptes Rendus of Nov. 13, 1854.f  The
The  stomach was  examined three weeks after death.  "On  the
addition of pure neutral nitrate of silver, a yellowish floculent pre-
cipitate  was formed in  abundance, which, when  well washed,
dried  in  vacuo, aud afterwards heated for a few moments on  the
sand bath, acquired a grayish color."  This was soluble in ammo-
nia and cyanide of potassium; prussian blue and prussic acid were
readily formed from the  cyanide  of potassium into which it was
converted  by  means  of the decomposing  power of  potassium.
There did  not seem to be any chemical  combination with the  or-
ganic matter, and a quantity equal to  0.120 gr. of anhydrous acid
was obtained.
  The Herapath's  of  England J have lately communicated  some
views on the changes  which this most active poison may undergo
during the  putrefaction of the  animal body, and  which changes
have heretofore been overlooked in chemical examinations.   These
gentlemen  found that there were clear  indications of the presence
of sulphcyanhydric acid in  the blood, when prussic acid had pre-
viously been taken, although all tests failed to detect the latter sub-
stance.  This acid (as also the sulph cyanides,) they hold, has  not
yet been detected in normal blood by the most careful analyses
and indeed it is admitted by Heintz and Lehman, that it only exists

     * Medical Monthly, I, 223.      f Chemical Gazette, XIII, 51.
                        t Chemist,  I, 321. 
25
in the saliva.  Now if it does not appear as a normal constituent
of the blood, it is easy to perceive how it may have been produced
by  the  action of nascent sulphydric  acid gas, on  prussic  acid
which had entered the system from without.   Thus the spontan-
eous  decomposition of  albumen might prepare  the  way for  the
disappearance of the prussic acid, with the formation of the sulph-
cyanhydric  acid.   It remains however, before we trust to this ex-
periment, to have instituted the most thorough and  complete  ana-
lyses of the blood with reference to the presence  or absence of this
substance in its normal condition.   If it be not a normal  constitu-
ent, prussic acid  can be recognised  with as  little difficulty  as a
metallic agent.   It would  only be  necessary to evaporate to  dry-
ness at  a low heat, the organic substance to be examined ; then to
boil it with  some strong alcohol, being mixed with  some  pure and
recently ignited  ivory black.   The alcoholic  solution should be
filtered, evaporated to dryness, and  dissolved  in a few  drops of
water.  If a sulphcyanide be  present, on acidulating the solution
with chlorhydric acid and  adding a few drops of a transparent so-
lution of a persalt of iron, a blood red color will present itself—
not likely to be  confounded with that produced by the presence of
any other substance.
   The molybdate of ammonia has been recommended as a capital
test for  the  detection of  an arsenical from an  antimonial  tache, as
produced in the process of Marsh.  This salt has the property of
forming a yellow colored  compound  with phosphoric or arsenic
acids,* even though the latter  should be present but in small quan-
tities.   The tache must be dissolved in boiling nitric acid, and the
addition of  the  molybdate will produce a precipitate  of a yellow
color, if arsenic be present.
   Dr. Tschudi   has  published descriptions!  of toxicophagi, or
poison-eaters, who live  in the lower part of  Austria and Styria,
and who are habituated  to the use of arsenic    They consume it
for a double purpose;—"to give  themselves a fresh and healthy
appearance and a certain degree of  embonpoint.''''  This is done by
the peasant  girls and  young men by way of increasing  their  per-
sonal attractions; and "to attain more freedom in respiration so as

             * Will's Outlines of Chemical Analyses,  121.
                        f Chemist, I,  7G2.
        4 
26
to be able to ascend  high  mountains with ease."  For the latter
purpose they put a small piece of arsenic in their mouths whenever
they have a long excursion to take up a mountain.   This seems to
give them the ability of ascending high mountains with an ease not
otherwise accomplished.
  They commence with a piece about a half grain  in size.  After
some time  has elapsed, during which  they use this  quantity twice
a day—the quantity is somewhat increased.  A case is mentioned
of one who followed the habit for forty years—taking as much as
four grains a  day—and had  transmitted  the habit  to  his  son.
Whenever  the habit is dropped, emaciation follows.  It increases
the sexual  feeling.  The Vienna coachmen  mix  a little of it with
the food of their horses—with  the view of giving them "a bright
aspect  of the skin, roundness  and elegance of form, and  foam at
the mouth."
  This communication  of Tschudi  settles the  point, which  has
been mooted for  years, whether any one could keep  up the habit
of arsenic-eating for a long time  without being a victim to the
supposed cumulative effects of the poison.
  In the detection  of blood spots in medico-legal  examinations, the
chairman of the  committee  has found  that the suggestions of M.
Morin  of the School  of Rouen,* were very valuable and  reliable
in cases where it is necessary to examine such  spots on  clothing
that has been washed with boiling water and  soap.  The  stained
part has a  greater  consistence than the tissue itself, and the stain
cannot after the treatment just  mentioned, be removed  by water
either hot or cold.
  The course to be followed, is  first to immerse  the stain in a  so-
lution  of  pure  caustic potassa.   This solution  will  dissolve  out
the stain and the addition  of nitric or chlorhydric acid produces  a
white precipitate, which indicates the presence of a proteine  com-
pound.  Secondly—the stained  tissue is  to be  placed in contact
with pure chlorhydric acid, which dissolves the entire matter of the
stain, forming a  solution that, when  concentrated, will give us  a
blue precipitate with the ferrocyanide  of potassium, and a blood red
with the sulphcyanide of potassium.
* Journal de Chimie Medicate. 
27
   Alfred Taylor recommends glycerine as the best fluid for remov-
ing blood  stains, which have not been exposed to the  action of
hot water,  since it does not dry, and therefore the microscope can
be used at one's leisure  in the examination  of the corpuscles.
Whatever  evidence a chemical  examination of  blood may furnish,
it is to a certain extent presumptive,  since  there are no  positive
chemical tests which will reveal its presence.  We can only show
the presence of the different constituents of this fluid, and then the
conclusion will be so strongly presumptive  that it will closely ap-
proximate  to—yes even equal, positive demonstration.  With the
microscope conjoined,  there can be no doubt  about  the matter;
and it should always be employed in conjunction with the chemi-
cal experiments on the  suspected spots.
   In  closing the report, the committee feel  that the contributions
of Chemistry during the past year have neither been small nor un-
important  to that profession, we  have  all selected as the business
of our lives to  study and investigate.   Often its cultivators are too
rash and careless in  their deductions from the various  facts which
have  collected  in the course of  experiment.   These must not be
taken as arguments against the data on which  they were founded,
but as incentives to a more  thorough study  of  the importance and
proper relation of these data.  Chemistry is a science, so to speak,
of yesterday, and yet, like  a young David, it has accomplished the
overthrowal of the Goliah  of superstition and ignorance.  It must
be employed as the  servant of  the physician—not with the view
of utterly  rejecting  all other means  of acquainting himself with
the animal body, in health  and  in disease—but to substantiate and
confirm what is indicated by those other means.   Under  such cir-
cumstances, it will be found one of the most useful of all the col-
lateral sciences, in elucidating  the secrets  of  the profession and
the saying of Libavius—a  student of Paracelsus—may be under-
stood, " Medicus ille nequit esse  magnus,  cui  chymia non est
magna."