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MEER f 
oa 


ANIMAL CHEMISTRY, 


Sc. 


ANIMAL CHEMISTRY, 


OR 


ORGANIC CHEMISTRY 


IN ITS APPLICATIONS TO 


PHYSIOLOGY AND PATHOLOGY. 


BY 


JUSTUS LIEBIG, M.D., Pa.D.,-F.R.S., M.R.1A-. 


PROFESSOR OF CHEMISTRY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF GIESSEN. 


EDITED FROM THE AUTHOR'S MANUSCRIPT 


BY WILLIAM GREGORY, M.D., F.R.S.E., M.R.LA. 


PROFESSOR OF MEDICINE AND CHEMISTRY IN THE UNIVERSITY 
AND KING’S COLLEGE, ABERDEEN. 


LONDON: 


PRINTED FOR TAYLOR AND WALTON, 
UPPER GOWER STREET. 


1842. 


Printed by J. L. Cox & Sons, 75, Great Queen Street, 
Lincoln’s-Inn Fields. 


TO 


THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION 


FOR THE 


ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE. — 


——— 


At the meeting of the British Association in 
Glasgow, in 1840, I had the honour to present the 
first part of a report on the then present state of 
Organic Chemistry, in which I endeavoured to de- 
velope the doctrines of this science in their bearing 
on Agriculture and Physiology. 

It affords me now much gratification to be able 
to communicate to the meeting of the Association 
for the present year the second part of my labours; 
in which I have attempted to trace the application 
of Organic Chemistry to Animal Physiology and 
Pathology. 

In the present work an extensive series of phe- 
nomena have been treated in their chemical rela- 
tions; and although it would be presumptuous to 
consider the questions here raised as being definitely 


resolved, yet those who are familiar with chemistry 


vi DEDICATION. 


will perceive that the only method which can lead 
to their final resolution, namely, the quantitative me- 
thod, has been employed. 

The formule and equations in the second part, 
therefore, although they are not to be viewed as 
ascertained truths, and as furnishing a complete, or 
the only explanation of the vital processes there 
treated of, are yet true in this sense: that being 
deduced from facts by logical induction, they must 
stand as long as no new facts shall be opposed to 
them. 

When the chemist shews, for example, that the 
elements of the bile, added to those of the urate 
of ammonia, correspond exactly to those of blood, 
he presents to us a fact which is independent of all 
hypothesis. It remains for the physiologist to de- 
termine, by experiment, whether the conclusions 
drawn by the chemist from such a fact be accurate 
or erroneous. And whether this question be an- 
swered in the affirmative or in the negative, the fact 
remains, and will some day find its true explana- 
tion. 

I have now to perform the agreeable duty of 
expressing my sense of the services rendered to me 
in the preparation of the English edition by my 
friend Dr. Gregory. The distinguished station he 


occupies as a chemist; the regular education which 


DEDICATION. Vii 


he has received in the various branches of medicine ; 
and his intimate acquaintance with the German 
language—all these, taken together, are the best 
securities that the translation is such as to convey 
the exact sense of the original; securities, such as 
are not often united in the same individual. 

It is my intention to follow this second part with 
a third, the completion of which, however, cannot 
be looked for before the lapse of two years. This 
third part will contain an investigation of the food 
of man and animals, the analysis of all articles of 
diet, and the study of the changes which the raw 
food undergoes in its preparation ; as, for example, 
in fermentation (bread), baking, roasting, boiling, &c. 
Already, it is true, many analyses have been made 
for the proposed work ; but the number of objects 
of investigation is exceedingly large, and in order 
to determine with accuracy the absolute value of 
seed, or of flour, or of a species of fodder, &c., as 
food, the ultimate analysis alone is not sufficient ; 
there are required comparative investigations, which 


present very great difficulties. 


Dr. JUSTUS LIEBIG. 


GIESSEN, 
3rd June, 1842. 


NOTE. 


I would beg leave to refer the chemical as 
well as the physiological reader particularly to the 
analyses (in Note (27), Appendix) of the animal 
tissues, which ought to have been referred to on 
pages 43 and 126, and which at present are only 
referred to in Note (7). Since the work was 
printed, moreover, there has been added, at the end 
of the Appendix, an interesting paper by Keller 
(see page 325), confirming the very important ob- 
servation of A. Ure, junior, as to the conversion of 
benzoic acid into hippuric acid in the human body; 
a fact which I perceive, by the Philosophical Maga- 
zine for June, has also been confirmed by Mr. Gar- 
rod, probably at an earlier period than by M. Keller. 
The reader will perceive that this fact strengthens 
materially the argument of the Author on the 


action of remedies. 


W. G. 


PREFACE. 


By the application to Chemistry of the methods 
which had for centuries been followed by philoso- 
phers in ascertaining the causes of natural pheno- 
mena in physics—by the observation of weight and 
measure—LAvoIsIER laid the foundation of a new 
science, which, having been cultivated by a host of 
distinguished men, has, in a singularly short period, 
reached a high degree of perfection. 

It was the investigation and determination of all 
the conditions which are essential to an observation 
or an experiment, and the discovery of the true 
principles of scientific research, that protected 
chemists from error, and conducted them, by a way 
equally simple and secure, to discoveries which have 
shed a brilliant light on those natural phenomena 
which were previously the most obscure and incom- 
prehensible. 

The most useful applications to the arts, to 
industry, and to all branches of knowledge related 
to chemistry, sprung from the laws thus established ; 


and this influence was not delayed till chemistry 


x PREFACE. 


had attained its highest perfection, but came into 
action with each new observation. 

All existing experience and observation in other 
departments of science reacted, in like manner, on 
the improvement and developement of chemistry ; 
so that chemistry received from metallurgy and 
from other industrial arts as much benefit as she 
had conferred on them. While they simultaneously 
increased in wealth, they mutually contributed to 
the developement of each other. 

After mineral chemistry had gradually attained 
its present state of developement, the labours of 
chemists took a new direction. From the study 
of the constituent parts of vegetables and animals, 
new and altered views have arisen; and the present 
work is an attempt to apply these views to physio- 
logy and pathology. 

In earlier times the attempt has been made, and 
often with great success, to apply to the objects of 
the medical art the views derived from an acquaint- 
ance with chemical observations. Indeed, the great 
physicians, who lived towards the end of the seven- 
teenth century, were the founders of chemistry, and 
in those days the only philosophers acquainted with 
it. The phlogistic system was the dawn of a new 
day; it was the victory of philosophy over the 


rudest empiricism. 


PREFACE. X1 


With all its discoveries, modern chemistry has 
performed but slender services to physiology and 
pathology; and we cannot be deceived as to the 
cause of this failure, if we reflect that it was found 
impossible to trace any sort of relation between the 
observations made in inorganic chemistry, the know- 
ledge of the characters of the elementary bodies and 
of such of their compounds as could be formed in 
the laboratory, on the one hand, and the living 
body, with the characters of its constituents, on the 
other. 

Physiology took no share in the advancement of 
chemistry, because for a long period she received 
from the latter science no assistance in her own 
developement. This state of matters has been 
entirely changed within five-and-twenty years. But 
during this period physiology has also acquired new 
ways and methods of investigation within her own 
province; and it is only the exhaustion of these 
sources of discovery which has enabled us to look 
forward to a change in the direction of the labours 
of physiologists. The time for such a change is now 
at hand; and a perseverance in the methods lately 
followed in physiology would now, from the want, 
which must soon be felt, of fresh points of departure 
for researches, render physiology more extensive, 


but neither more profound nor more solid. 


Xil PREFACE. 


No one will venture to maintain, that the know- 
ledge of the forms and of the phenomena of motion 
in organized beings is either unnecessary or unprofit- 
able. On the contrary, this knowledge must be 
considered as altogether indispensable to that of the 
vital processes. But it embraces only one class of 
the conditions necessary for the acquisition of that 
knowledge, and is not of itself sufficient to enable 
us to attain it. 

The study of the uses and functions of the diffe- 
rent organs, and of their mutual connection in the 
animal body, was formerly the chief object of physi- 
ological researches ; but lately this study has fallen 
into the back-ground. The greater part of all the 
modern discoveries has served to enrich comparative 
anatomy far more than physiology. 

These researches have yielded the most valuable 
results in relation to the recognition of the dissimi- 
lar forms and conditions to be found in the healthy 
and in the diseased organism; but they have 
yielded no conclusions calculated to give us a more 
profound insight into the essence of the vital pro- 
cesses. 

The most exact anatomical knowledge of the 
structure of the tissues cannot teach us their uses ; 
and from the microscopical examination of the most 


minute reticulations of the vessels we can learn no 


PREFACE. Xlll 


more as to their functions than we have learned 
concerning vision from counting the surfaces on the 
eye of the fly. The most beautiful and elevated 
problem for the human intellect, the discovery of 
the laws of vitality, cannot be resolved, nay, cannot 
even be imagined, without an accurate knowledge 
of chemical forces ; of those forces which do not act 
at sensible distances; which are manifested in the 
same way as those ultimate causes by which the 
vital phenomena are determined; and which are 
invariably found active, whenever dissimilar sub- 
stances come into contact. 

Physiology, even in the present day, still endea- 
vours, but always after the fashion of the phlogistic 
chemists (that is, by the qualitative method), to 
apply chemical experience to the removal of diseased 
conditions; but with all these countless experi- 
ments we are not one step nearer to the causes and 
the essence of disease. 

Without proposing well-defined questions, experi- 
menters have placed blood, urine, and all the consti- 
tuents of the healthy or diseased frame, in contact 
with acids, alkalies, and all sorts of chemical re- 
agents; and have drawn, from observation of the 
changes thus produced, conclusions as to their 


behaviour in the body. 


XIV PREFACE. 


By pursuing this method, useful remedies or 
modes of treatment might by accident be disco- 
vered; but a rational physiology cannot be founded 
on mere re-actions, and the living body cannot be 
viewed as a chemical laboratory. 

In certain diseased conditions, in which the 
blood acquires a viscid consistence, this state cannot 
be permanently removed by a chemical action on 
the fluid circulating in the blood-vessels. The 
deposit of a sediment from the urine may, perhaps, 
be prevented by alkalies, while their action has not 
the remotest tendency to remove the cause of 
disease. Again, when we observe, in typhus, inso- 
luble salts of ammonia in the feces, and a change 
in the globules of the blood similar to that which 
may be artificially produced by ammonia, we are 
not, on that account, entitled to consider the pre- 
sence of ammonia in the body as the cause, but 
only as the effect of a cause. 

Thus medicine, after the fashion of the Aristote- 
lian philosophy, has formed certain conceptions in 
regard to nutrition and sanguification ; articles of 
diet have been divided into nutritious and non- 
nutritious; but these theories, being founded on 
observations destitute of the conditions most essen- 
tial to the drawing of just conclusions, could not be 


received as expressions of the truth. 


PREFACE. XV 


How clear are now to us the relations of the 
different articles of food to the objects which they 
serve in the body, since organic chemistry has 
applied to the investigation her quantitative method 
of research! 

When a lean goose, weighing 4 lbs., gains, in 
thirty-six days, during which it has been fed with 
24 lbs. of maize, 5lbs. in weight, and yields 34|bs. of 
pure fat, this fat cannot have been contained in the 
food, ready formed, because maize does not contain 
the thousandth part of its weight of fat, or of any 
substance resembling fat. And when a certain 
number of bees, the weight of which is exactly 
known, being fed with pure honey, devoid of wax, 
yield one part of wax for every twenty parts of 
honey consumed, without any change being percep- 
tible in their health or in their weight, it is impossi- 
ble any longer to entertain doubt as to the forma- 
tion of fat from sugar in the animal body. 

We must adopt the method which has thus led to 
the discovery of the origin of fat, in the investiga- 
tion of the origin and alteration of the secretions, as 
well as in the study of all the other phenomena of 
the animal body. From the moment that we begin 
to look earnestly and conscientiously for the true 
answers to our questions, that we take the trou- 


ble, by means of weight and measure, to fix our 


XV1 PREFACE. 


observations, and express them in the form of 
equations, these answers are obtained without diffi- 
culty. 

However numerous our observations may be, yet, 
if they only bear on one side of a question, they 
will never enable us to penetrate the essence of a 
natural phenomenon in its full significance. If we 
are to derive any advantage from them, they must 
be directed to a well-defined object; and there 
must be an organized connection between them. 

Mechanical philosophers and chemists justly 
ascribe to their methods of research the greater 
part of the success which has attended their labours. 
The result of every such investigation, if it bear in 
any degree the stamp of perfection, may always be 
given in few words; but these few words are eter- 
nal truths, to the discovery of which numberless 
experiments and questions were essential. The 
researches themselves, the laborious experiments 
and complicated apparatus, are forgotten as soon as 
the truth is ascertained. They were the ladders, 
the shafts, the tools, which were indispensable to 
enable us to attain to the rich vein of ore; they 
were the pillars and air passages which protected 
the mine from water and from foul air. 

Every chemical or physical investigation, how- 


ever insignificant, which lays claim to attention, 


PREFACE. XVil 


must in the present day possess this character. 
From a certain number of observations it must 
enable us to draw some conclusion, whether it be 
extended or limited. 

The imperfection of the method or system of 
research adopted by physiologists can alone explain 
the fact, that for the last fifty years they have esta- 
blished so few new and solid truths in regard to a 
more profound knowledge of the functions of the 
most important organs, of the spleen, of the liver, 
and of the numerous glands of the body; and the 
limited acquaintance of physiologists with the me- 
thods of research employed in chemistry will con- 
tinue to be the chief impediment to the progress of 
physiology, as well as a reproach which that science 
eannot escape. 

Before the time of Lavoisier, Scheele, and 
Priestley, chemistry was not more closely related 
to physics than she is now to physiology. At the 
present day chemistry is so fused, as it were, into 
physics, that it would be a difficult matter to draw 
the line between them distinctly. The connection 
between chemistry and physiology is the same, and 
in another half-century it will be found impossible 
to separate them. 

Our questions and our experiments intersect in 
numberless curved lines the straight line that leads 


b 


XVill PREFACE. 


to truth. It is the points of intersection that indi- 
eate to us the true direction; but, owing to the 
imperfection of ‘the human intellect, these curve 
lines must be pursued. Observers in chemistry and 
physics have the eye ever fixed on the object which 
they seek to attain. One may succeed, for a space, 
in following the direct line; but all are prepared for 
circuitous paths. Never doubting of the ultimate 
success of their efforts, provided they exhibit con- 
stancy and perseverance, their eagerness and cou- 
rage are only exalted by difficulties. 

Detached observations, without connection, are 
points scattered over the plain, which do not allow 
us to choose a decided path. For centuries chemis- 
try presented nothing but these points, and sufficient 
means were available to fill up the intervals be- 
tween them. But permanent discoveries and real 
progress were only made when chemists ceased to 
make use of fancy to connect them. 

My object in the present work has been to direct at- 
tention to the points of intersection of chemistry with 
physiology, and to point out those parts in which 
the sciences become, as it were, mixed up together. 
It contains a collection of problems, such as chemistry 
at present requires to be resolved; and a number 
of conclusions drawn according to the rules of that 


scienee from such observations as have been made. 


PREFACE. xix 


These questions and problems will be resolved : 
and we cannot doubt that we shall have in that case 
a new physiology and a rational pathology. Our 
sounding line, indeed, is not long enough to mea- 
sure the depths of the sea, but is not on that 
account less valuable to us: if it assist us, in the 
mean time, to avoid rocks and shoals, its use is suf- 
_ ficiently obvious. In the hands of the physiologist, 
organic chemistry must become an _ intellectual 
instrument, by means of which he will be enabled 
to trace the causes of phenomena invisible to the 
bodily sight; and if among the results which I 
have developed or indicated in this work, one alone 
shall admit of a useful application, I shall consider 
the object for which it was written as fully attained. 
The path which has led to it will open up other 
paths; and this I consider as the most important 


object to be gained. 


JUSTUS LIEBIG. 


Giessen, April, 1842. 


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CONTENTS 


PART I. 


Vital force, vis vite, or vitality page 1 
Distinction between animal and vegetable life antl 
Assimilation the result of chemical forces + 
Vitality independent of consciousness 6 
Laws of the vital force 8 
Conditions of animal life 9 
Nutrition depends on chemical changes 11 
Amount of oxygen inspired by an adult man 12 
It combines with carbon and hydrogen in the body 15 
The consumption of oxygen varies 15 
Effect of heat on these variations pa - 16 
The mutual action of oxygen and carbon in the ede is ae 
true source of animal heat fe be as 5a en 
The amount of oxygen regulates that of food eee 20 
Effects of climate on the appetite... ane wa oe oo 
The process of starvation ... aa see ove oe =25 
Cause of death in starvation and chronic diseases ... coe 27 
Nerves and muscles not the source of animal body ne: 29 
Amount of animal heat sae ope the ose ~ 34 
Nervous and vegetative life ... esa pos vee coe 338 
Nutrition depends on the constituents of blood... wee 40 
Identity of organic composition in fibrine and albumen... 41 
Nutrition in the carnivora the most simple ... ses wee «644 
In the herbivora, depends on the azotised products of vege- 
fables Se» “ar os aS se abe soe £5 


Xx CONTENTS. 


These products identical with the constituents of blood ... 47 
The blood of animals is therefore formed by vegetables... 48 


Uses of the non-azotised ingredients of food apy we 90 
Changes of the food in the organism of carnivora ... ao. 3S 
Carbon accumulates in the bile = see a3: es 8S 
Nitrogen in the urine mae 33: Baa ae ese HOU 
The carbon is consumed or burned ... ase eos wee 60 
True function of the bile... ae ah ee oo, ge 
Amount of bile secreted... S or ae <a ee 
Assimilation more energetic in the young animal ... ype 
The butter, sugar, &c., of its food support respiration ... 68 
The same is true of the class of herbivora ... ee Bess | 
Waste of matter very rapid in carnivora.... aos sas, ga 
Importance of agriculture to population ... aes ee 77 
Assimilation less energetic in the carnivora oe 0 gu a 
Origin of fat in domesticated animals yes a a5 Mae 
Its formation is a source of oxygen ... ae me ... 86 
It is formed when oxygen is deficient, and is a source of 

animal heat ie coe a 4 eas ooo oe 
Elements of nutrition and of respiration sa te |e oe 
Gelatine incapable of serving for nutrition, strictly so called 97 
But it may serve to nourish the gelatinous tissues... Oo 

PART 11. 
THE METAMORPHOSIS OF TISSUES. 

Discovery of proteine mFS e: vat bois son he 
It is formed by vegetables alone... ae srk oes Maes 
Theory of chymification ... oe sy iN 22 aes 
Use of the saliva... 7 — ae Be wd des 
Source of the nitrogen exhaled from the lungs and skin... 114 
Composition of proteine... a Be aoe eo 
Composition of the animal tissues ... = ja: plas 
Gelatine contains no proteine, although formed from it... 128 


The secretions contain all the elements of the blood ot ee 


CONTENTS. XXill 


Formula of blood and metamorphoses of bile . 133 
Metamorphoses of blood and flesh .. ; . 136 
The constituents of the urine derived from the metamor- 
phosed tissues ; i: f ie: . 138 
Relation of blood or flesh oh proteine to the secretions and 
excretions 140 
Formation of gelatine 142 
Origin of bile in the carnivora 144 
Origin of bile in the herbivora 147 
Origin of hippuric acid 150 
Formation of the chief secretions and excretions 152 
Soda essential to the bile 154 
Relation of urine to bile 155 
Relation of starch to bile 157 
Uses of common salt... a sis i 162 
Certain remedies take a share in the vital transformations... 170 
Chief qualities of the blood ... 171 
Modus operandi of organic remedies 174 
All organic poisons contain nitrogen Liz 
Theine identical with caffeine LVie? 
Relation of theine and caffeine to bile 180 
Theory of their action 181 
Theory of the action of the beati. nie 182 
Composition and origin of nervous matter ... 184 
It is related to that of the vegetable alkalies 185 
Theory of the action of the latter ... ase ae «o- 188 
Phosphorus seems essential to nervous matter 190 
PART III. 
1. The phenomena of motion in the animal organism 195 
2. The same subject, with particular reference to the waste 
and supply or change of matter 233 
3. Theory of disease vee 254 
4, Theory of respiration... ae Soc ot -. 265 


XX1V- CONTENTS. 


APPENDIX. 


Containing the analytical evidence referred to in the sections 
‘in which are described the chemical processes of respira- 


tion, nutrition, and the metamorphosis of tissues ee 
On the conversion of benzoic acid into hippuric acid in the 
human body, by W. Keller ae ccf es. +. 325 


INDEX siete zoe “ee aoe ne a coe O29 


ORGANIC CHEMISTRY 


APPLIED TO 


PEYSTOLOGY AND PATHOLOGY. 


I. In the animal ovum, as well as in the seed of 
a plant, we recognize a certain remarkable force, the 
source of growth, or increase in the mass, and of re- 
production, or of supply of the matter consumed; a 
force in a state of rest. By the action of external in- 
fluences, by impregnation, by the presence of air and 
moisture, the condition of static equilibrium of this 
force is disturbed; entering into a state of motion or 
activity, it exhibits itself in the production of a series 
of forms, which, although occasionally bounded by 
right lines, are yet widely distinct from geometrical 
forms, such as we observe in crystallised minerals. 
This force is called the vital force, vis vite or vitality. 

The increase of mass in a plant is determined by 
the occurrence of a decomposition which takes place 
in certain parts of the plant under the influence of 
light and heat. 

In the vital process, as it goes on in vegetables, 
it is exclusively inorganic matter which undergoes 
this decomposition ; and if, with the most distin- 

B 


2 VEGETABLE AND 


guished mineralogists, we consider atmospherical 
air and certain other gases as minerals, it may be 
said that the vital process in vegetables accom- 
plishes the transformation of mineral substances into 
an organism endued with life; that the mineral be- 
comes part of an organ possessing vital force. 

The increase of mass in a living plant implies that 
certain component parts of its nourishment become 
component parts of the plant ; and a comparison of 
the chemical composition of the plant with that of 
its nourishment makes known to us, with positive 
certainty, which of the component parts of the latter 
have been assimilated, and which have been rejected. 
‘ The observations of vegetable physiologists and 
the researches of chemists have mutually contri- 
buted to establish the fact, that the growth and 
developement of vegetables depend on the elimi- 
nation of oxygen, which is separated from the other 
component parts of their nourishment. 

In contradistinction to vegetable life, the life of 
animals exhibits itself in the continual absorption 
of the oxygen of the air, and its combination with 
certain component parts of the animal body. 

While no part of an organised being can serve as 
food to vegetables, until, by the processes of putre- 
faction and decay, it has assumed the form of 
inorganic matter, the animal organism requires, 
for its support and developement, highly organised 
atoms. The food of all animals, in all cireum- 
stances, consists of parts of organisms. 


ANIMAL LIFE. 3 


Animals are distinguished from vegetables by the 
faculty of locomotion, and, in general, by the posses- 
sion of senses. 

The existence and activity of these distinguishing 
faculties depend on certain instruments which are 
never found in vegetables. Comparative anatomy 
shews, that the phenomena of motion and sensation 
depend on certain kinds of apparatus, which have 
no other relation to each other than this, that they 
meet in a common centre. The substance of the 
spinal marrow, the nerves, and the brain, is in its 
composition, and in its chemical characters, essen- 
tially distinct from that of which cellular substance, 
membranes, muscles, and skin are composed. 

Every thing in the animal organism, to which 
the name of motion can be applied, proceeds from 
the nervous apparatus. The phenomena of motion 
in vegetables, the circulation of the sap, for example, 
observed in many of the characex, and the closing of 
flowers and leaves, depend on physical and mechani- 
cal causes. A plant is destitute of nerves. Heat 
and light are the remote causes of motion in 
vegetables; but in animals we recognize in the 
nervous apparatus a source of power, capable of 
renewing itself at every moment of their existence. 

While the assimilation of food in vegetables, 
and the whole process of their formation, are depen- 
dant on certain external influences which produce 
motion, the developement of the animal organism 


is, to a certain extent, independent of these external 
Bo 


4 ASSIMILATION THE RESULT 


influences, just because the animal body can pro- 
duce within itself that source of motion which is 
indispensable to the vital process. 

Assimilation, or the process of formation and 
growth—in other words, the passage of matter from 
a state of motion to that of rest—goes on in the 
same way in animals and in vegetables. In both, 
the same cause determines the increase of mass. 
This constitutes the true vegetative life, which is 
carried on without consciousness. 

The activity of vegetative life manifests itself, 
in vegetables, with the aid of external influences ; 
in animals, by means of influences produced within 
their organism. Digestion, circulation, secretion, 
are no doubt under the influence of the nervous 
system; but the force which gives to the germ, the 
leaf, and the radical fibres of the vegetable the 
same wonderful properties, is the same as that 
residing in the secreting membranes and glands of 
animals, and which enables every animal organ to 
perform its own proper function. It is only the 
source of motion that differs in the two great classes 
of organised beings. 

While the organs of the vital motions are never 
wanting in the lowest orders of animals, as in the im- 
pregnated germ of the ovum, in which they are deve- 
loped first of all, we find, in the higher orders of ani- 
mals, peculiar organs of feeling and sensation, of con- 
sciousness and of a higher intellectual existence. 

Pathology informs us that the true vegetative life 


~ 


OF CHEMICAL FORCES. » 


is in no way dependant on the presence of this 
apparatus ; that the process of nutrition proceeds 
in those parts of the body where the nerves of 
sensation and voluntary motion are paralysed, ex- 
actly in the same way as in other parts where 
these nerves are in the normal condition; and, on 
the other hand, that the most energetic volition is 
incapable of exerting any influence on the contrac- 
tions of the heart, on the motion of the intestines, 
or on the processes of secretion. 

The higher phenomena of mental existence can- 
not, in the present state of science, be referred 
to their proximate, and still less to their ultimate 
causes. We only know of them, that they exist; 
we ascribe them to an immaterial agency, and that, 
in so far as its manifestations are connected with 
matter, an agency entirely distinct from the vital 
foree, with which it has nothing in common. 

It cannot be denied that this peculiar force ex- 
ercises a certain influence on the activity of vege- 
tative life, just as other immaterial agents, such 
as Light, Heat, Electricity, and Magnetism do; but 
this influence is not of a determinative kind, and 
manifests itself only as an acceleration, a retarding, 
or a disturbance of the process of vegetative life. 
In a manner exactly analogous, the vegetative life 
reacts on the conscious mental existence. 

There are thus two forces which are found in 
activity together; but consciousness and intellect ° 
may be absent in animals as they are in living 


6 VITALITY INDEPENDENT 


vegetables, without their vitality being otherwise 
affected than by the want of a peculiar source of 
increased energy or of disturbance. Except in 
regard to this, all the vital chemical processes go 
on precisely in the same way in man and in the 
lower animals. 

The efforts of philosophers, constantly renewed, 
to penetrate the relations of the soul to animal life, 
have all along retarded the progress of physiology. 
In this attempt men left the province of philoso- 
phical research for that of fancy ; physiologists, car- 
ried away by imagination, were far from being 
acquainted with the laws of purely animal life. 
None of them had a clear conception of the process 
of developement and nutrition, or of the true 
cause of death. They professed to explain the 
most obscure psychological phenomena, and yet 
they were unable to say what fever is, and in what 
way quinine acts in curing it. 

For the purpose of investigating the laws of vital 
motion in the animal body, only one condition, 
namely, the knowledge of the apparatus which 
serves for its production, was ascertained; but the 
substance of the organs, the changes which food 
undergoes in the living body, its transformation 
into portions of organs, and its re-conversion into 
lifeless compounds, the share which the atmosphere 
takes in the processes of vitality; all these founda- 
‘tions for future conclusions were still wanting. 

What has the soul, what have consciousness and 


OF CONSCIOUSNESS AND INTELLECT. 7 


intellect to do with the developement of the human 
foetus, or the foetus in a fowl’s egg? not more, 
surely, than with the developement of the seeds of 
a plant. Let us first endeavour to refer to their 
ultimate causes those phenomena of life which are 
not psychological; and let us beware of drawing 
conclusions before we have a groundwork. We 
know exactly the mechanism of the eye; but 
neither anatomy nor chemistry will ever explain 
how the rays of light act on consciousness, so as to 
produce vision. Natural science has fixed limits 
which cannot be passed; and it must always be 
borne in mind that, with all our discoveries, we 
shall never know what light, electricity, and mag- 
netism are in their essence, because, even of those 
things which are material, the human intellect has 
only conceptions. We can ascertain, however, the 
laws which regulate their motion and rest, because 
these are manifested in phenomena. In like man-— 
ner, the laws of vitality, and of all that disturbs, 
promotes, or alters it, may certainly be discovered, 
although we shall never learn what life is. Thus 
the discovery of the laws of gravitation and of the 
planetary motions led to an entirely new concep- 
tion of the cause of these phenomena. This con- 
ception could not have been formed in all its clear- 
ness without a knowledge of the phenomena out 
of which it was evolved; for, considered by itself, 
gravity, like light to one born blind, is a mere 
word, devoid of meaning. 


8 LAWS OF THE 


The modern science of physiology has left the 
track of Aristotle. To the eternal advantage of 
science, and to the benefit of mankind, it no longer 
invents a horror vacut, a quinta essentia, in order to 
furnish credulous hearers with solutions and expla- 
nations of phenomena, whose true connection with 
others, whose ultimate cause is still unknown. 

If we assume that all the phenomena exhibited 
by the organism of plants and animals are to be 
ascribed to a peculiar cause, different in its manifes- 
tations from all other causes which produce motion 
or change of condition; if, therefore, we regard the 
vital foree as an independent force, then, in the 
phenomena of organic life, as in all other pheno- 
mena ascribed to the action of forces, we have 
the statics, that is, the state of equilibrium deter- 
mined by a resistance, and the dynamics, of the vital 
force. 

All the parts of the animal body are produced 
from a peculiar fluid, circulating in its organism, by 
virtue of an influence residing in every cell, in every 
organ, or part of an organ. Physiology teaches that 
all parts of the body were originally blood; or that 
at least they were brought to the growing organs by 
means of this fluid. 

The most ordinary experience further shews, 
that at each moment of life, in the animal organ- 
ism, a continued change of matter, more or less 
accelerated, is going on; that a part of the structure 
is transformed into unorganised matter, loses its 


VITAL FORCE. 9 


condition of life, and must be again renewed. Phy- 
siology has sufficiently decisive grounds for the 
opinion, that every motion, every manifestation of 
force, is the result of a transformation of the struc- 
ture or of its substance; that every conception, 
every mental affection, is followed by changes in the 
chemical nature of the secreted fluids; that every 
thought, every sensation, is accompanied by a change 
in the composition of the substance of the brain. 

In order to keep up the phenomena of life in 
animals, certain matters are required, parts of organ- 
isms, which we call nourishment. In consequence 
of a series of alterations, they serve either for the 
inerease of the mass (nutrition), or for the supply of 
the matter consumed (reproduction), or, finally, for 
the production of force. 


II. If the first condition of animal life be the 
assimilation of what is commonly called nourish- 
ment, the second is a continual absorption of oxygen 
from the atmosphere. 

Viewed as an object of scientific research, animal 
life exhibits itself in a series of phenomena, the 
connection and recurrence of which are determined 
by the changes which the food and the oxygen 
absorbed from the atmosphere undergo in the organ- 
ism under the influence of the vital force. 

All vital activity arises from the mutual action 
of the oxygen of the atmosphere and the elements 
of the food. 


10 NUTRITION AND REPRODUCTION 


In the processes of nutrition and reproduction, 
we perceive the passage of matter from the state of 
motion to that of rest (static equilibrium); under 
the influence of the nervous system, this matter 
enters again into a state of motion. The ultimate 
causes of these different conditions of the vital force 
are chemical forces. 

The cause of the state of rest is a resistance, 
determined by a force of attraction (combination), 
which acts between the smallest particles of matter, 
and is manifested only when these are in actual 
contact, or at infinitely small distances. 

To this peculiar kind of attraction we may of 
course apply different names; but the chemist calls 
it affinity. 

The cause of the state of motion is to be found 
in a series of changes which the food undergoes in 
the organism, and these are the results of processes 
of decomposition, to which either the food itself, or 
the structures formed from it, or parts of organs, 
are subjected. 

The distinguishing character of vegetable life is a 
continued passage of matter from the state of mo- 
tion to that of static equilibrium. While a plant 
lives, we cannot perceive any cessation in its growth; 
no part of an organ in the plant diminishes in size. 
If decomposition occur, it is the result of assimila- 
tion. A plant produces within itself no cause of 
motion ; no part of its structure, from any influence 


residing in its organism, loses its state of vitality, 


DEPEND ON CHEMICAL CHANGES. ES 


and is converted into unorganised, amorphous com- 
pounds; in a word, no waste occurs in vegetables. 
Waste, in the animal body, is a change in the state 
or in the composition of some of its parts, and 
consequently is the result of chemical actions. 

The influence of poisons and of remedial agents 
on the living animal body evidently shews that the 
chemical decompositions and combinations in the 
body, which manifest themselves in the phenomena 
of vitality, may be increased in intensity by chemical 
forces of analogous character, and retarded or put 
an end to by those of opposite character; and that 
we are enabled to exercise an influence on every 
part of an organ by means of substances possessing 
a well-defined chemical action. 

As, in the closed galvanic circuit, in consequence 
of certain changes which an inorganic body, a metal, 
undergoes when placed in contact with an acid, a 
certain something becomes cognizable by our senses, 
which we call a current of electricity; so, in the 
animal body, in consequence of transformations and 
changes undergone by matter previously constituting 
a part of the organism, certain phenomena of motion 
and activity are perceived, and these we eall life, or 
vitality. 

The electrical current manifests itself in certain 
phenomena of attraction and repulsion, which it 
excites in other bodies naturally motionless, and by 
the phenomena of the formation and decomposition 


of chemical compounds, which occur everywhere, 


12 OXYGEN REQUIRED 


when the resistance is not sufficient to arrest the 
current. 

It is from this point of view, and from no other, 
that chemistry ought to contemplate the phenomena 
of life. Wonders surround us on every side. The 
formation of a crystal, of an octahedron, is not less in- 
comprehensible than the production of a leaf or of a 
muscular fibre ; and the production of vermilion from 
mercury and sulphur is as much an enigma as the 
formation of an eye from the substance of the blood. 

The first conditions of animal life are nutritious 
matters and oxygen, introduced into the system. 

At every moment of his life man is taking oxygen 
into his system, by means of the organs of respira- 
tion; no pause is observable while life continues. 

The observations of physiologists have shewn that 
the body of an adult man, supplied with sufficient 
food, has neither increased nor diminished in weight 
at the end of twenty-four hours; yet the quantity 
of oxygen taken into the system during this period 
is very considerable. 

According to the experiments of Lavoisier, an 
adult man takes into his system, from the atmo- 
sphere, in one year, 746 Ibs., according to Menzies, 
837 lbs. of oxygen; yet we find his weight, at the 
beginning and end of the year, either quite the 
same, or differing, one way or the other, by at most 
a few pounds. (1)* 

What, it may be asked, has become of the enor- 


* The Numbers refer to the Appendix. 


AS WELL AS FOOD. 3 


mous weight of oxygen thus introduced, in the 
course of a year into the human system ? 

This question may be answered satisfactorily: no 
part of this oxygen remains in the system; but it is 
given out again in the form of a compound of carbon 
or of hydrogen. 

The carbon and hydrogen of certain parts of the 
body have entered into combination with the oxygen 
introduced through the lungs and through the skin, 
and have been given out in the forms of carbonic 
acid gas and the vapour of water. 

At every moment, with every expiration, certain 
quantities of its elements separate from the animal 
organism, after having entered into combination, 
within the body, with the oxygen of the atmosphere. 

If we assume, with Lavoisier and Séguin, in 
order to obtain a foundation for our calculation, 
that an adult man receives into his system daily 
324 oz. (46,037 cubic inches 15,661 grains, French 
weight) of oxygen, and that the weight of the whole 
mass of his blood, of which 80 per cent. is water, is 
24 lbs.; it then appears, from the known composi- 
tion of the blood, that, in order to convert the 
whole of its carbon and hydrogen into carbonic acid 
and water, 64,103 grains of oxygen are required. 
This quantity will be taken into the system of an 
adult in four days five hours. (2) 

Whether this oxygen enters into combination 
with the elements of the blood, or with other parts 
of the body containing carbon and hydrogen, in 


14 OXYGEN COMBINES WITH 


either case the conclusion is inevitable, that the 
body of a man, who daily takes into the system 
324 oz. of oxygen, must receive daily in the shape 
of nourishment, as much carbon and hydrogen as 
would suffice to supply 24 lbs. of blood with these 
elements; it being presupposed that the weight of 
the body remains unchanged, and that it retains its 
normal condition as to health. 

This supply is furnished in the food. 

From the accurate determination of the quantity 
of carbon daily taken into the system in the food, 
as well as of that proportion of it which passes out 
of the body in the feces and urine, unburned, that 
is, in some form in which it is not combined with 
oxygen, it appears that an adult, taking moderate 
exercise, consumes 13-9 oz. of carbon daily. (3) 

These 133% oz. of carbon escape through the skin 
and lungs as carbonic acid gas. 

For conversion into carbonic acid gas, 13% oz. 
of carbon require 37 oz. of oxygen. 

According to the analyses of Boussingault (Ann. 
de Ch. et de Ph. LXXI. p. 136) a horse consumes 
in twenty-four hours 974 oz. of carbon, a milch 
cow 6975 oz. The quantities of carbon here men- 
tioned are those given off from the bodies of these 
animals in the form of carbonic acid; and it appears 
from them that the horse consumes, in converting 
carbon into carbonic acid, 13 Ibs. 35 oz. in twenty- 
four hours, and the milech cow 11 lbs. 103 oz. of 
oxygen in the same time. (4) 


THE CARBON OF THE FOOD. 15 


Since no part of the oxygen taken into the sys- 
tem is again given off in any other form but that 
of a compound of carbon or hydrogen; since fur- 
ther, the carbon and hydrogen given off are re- 
placed by carbon and hydrogen supplied in the 
food, it is clear that the amount of nourishment 
required by the animal body must be in a direct 
ratio to the quantity of oxygen taken into the 
system. 

Two animals, which in equal times take up by 
means of the lungs and skin unequal quantities of 
oxygen, consume quantities of the same nourish- 
ment which are unequal in the same ratio. 

The consumption of oxygen in equal times may 
be expressed by the number of respirations; it is 
clear that, in the same individual, the quantity of 
nourishment required must vary with the force and 
number of the respirations. 

A child, in whom the organs of respiration are 
naturally very active, requires food oftener than an 
adult, and bears hunger less easily. A bird, deprived 
of food, dies on the third day, while a serpent, 
with its sluggish respiration, can live without food 
three months and longer. 

The number of respirations is smaller in a state 
of rest than during exercise or work. ‘The quan- 
tity of food necessary in both conditions must vary 
in the same ratio. 

An excess of food is incompatible with deficiency 
in respired oxygen, that is, with deficient exercise ; 


x 


16 EFFECT OF HEAT ON THE 


just as violent exercise, which implies an increased 
supply of food, is incompatible with weak diges- 
tive organs. In either case the health suffers. 

But the quantity of oxygen inspired is also af- 
fected by the temperature and density of the atmos- 
phere. 

The capacity of the chest in an animal is a con- 
stant quantity. At every respiration a quantity of 
air enters, the volume of which may be considered as 
uniform ; but its weight, and consequently that of the 
oxygen it contains, is not constant. Air is expanded 
by heat, and contracted by cold, and therefore equal 
volumes of hot and cold air contain unequal weights 
of oxygen. In summer, moreover, atmospherical 
air contains aqueous vapour, while in winter it is 
dry; the space occupied by vapour in the warm air 
is filled up by air itself in winter; that is, it con- 
tains, for the same volume, more oxygen in winter 
than in summer. 

In summer and in winter, at the pole and at the 
equator, we respire an equal volume of air; the cold 
air is warmed during respiration, and acquires the 
temperature of the body. To introduce into the 
lungs a given volume of oxygen, less expenditure of 
force is necessary in winter than in summer; and for 
the same expenditure of force, more oxygen is in- 
spired in winter. 

It is obvious, that in an equal number of respira- 
tions we consume more oxygen at the level of the 
sea than on a mountain. The quantity both of 


AMOUNT OF OXYGEN ABSORBED. 17 


oxygen inspired and of carbonic acid expired, must 
therefore vary with the height of the barometer. 

The oxygen taken into the system is given out 
again in the same forms, whether in summer or 
in winter; hence we expire more carbon in cold 
weather, and when the barometer is high, than we 
do in warm weather; and we must consume more 
or less carbon in our food in the same proportion ; 
in Sweden more than in Sicily; and in our more 
temperate climate a full eighth more in winter 
than in summer. 

Even when we consume equal weights of food in 
cold and warm countries, infinite wisdom has so 
arranged, that the articles of food in different cli- 
mates are most unequal in the proportion of carbon 
they contain. The fruits on which the natives of 
the south prefer to feed do not in the fresh state 
contain more than 12 per cent. of carbon, while the 
bacon and train oil used by the inhabitants of the 
arctic regions contain from 66 to 80 per cent. of 
carbon. 

It is no difficult matter, in warm climates, to 
study moderation in eating, and men can bear hun- 
ger for a long time under the equator; but cold 
and hunger united very soon exhaust the body. 

The mutual action between the elements of the 
food and the oxygen conveyed by the circulation 
of the blood to every part of the body is THE SOURCE 
OF ANIMAL HEAT. 


18 SOURCE OF ANIMAL 


III. All living creatures, whose existence depends 
on the absorption of oxygen, possess within them- 
selves a source of heat independent of surrounding 
objects. 

This truth applies to all animals, and extends, 
besides, to the germination of seeds, to the flower- 
ing of plants, and to the maturation of fruits. 

It is only in those parts of the body to which 
arterial blood, and with it the oxygen absorbed in 
respiration, is conveyed, that heat is produced. Hair, 
wool, or feathers do not possess an elevated tempe- 
rature. 

This high temperature of the animal body, or, as 
it may be called, disengagement of heat, is uniformly 
and under all circumstances the result of the combi- 
nation of a combustible substance with oxygen. 

In whatever way carbon may combine with 
oxygen, the act of combination cannot take place 
without the disengagement of heat. It is a matter 
of indifference whether the combination take place 
rapidly or slowly, at a high or at a low tempera- 
ture; the amount of heat liberated is a constant 
quantity. 

The carbon of the food, which is converted into 
carbonic acid within the body, must give out ex- 
actly as much heat as if it had been directly burnt 
in the air or in oxygen gas; the only difference is, 
that the amount of heat produced is diffused over 
unequal times. In oxygen, the combustion is more 
rapid, and the heat more intense; in air it is slower, 


* HEAT.—RESPIRATION. 19 


the temperature is not so high, but it continues 
longer. 

It is obvious that the amount of heat liberated 
must increase or diminish with the quantity of 
oxygen introduced in equal times by respiration. 
Those animals which respire frequently, and conse- 
quently consume much oxygen, possess a higher 
temperature than others, which, with a body of 
equal size to be heated, take into the system less 
oxygen. The temperature of a child (102°) is 
higher than that of an adult (99°5°). That of birds 
(104° to 105°4°) is higher than that of quadrupeds 
(98-5° to 100-4°) or than that of fishes or amphibia, 
whose proper temperature is from 2°7° to 3°6° higher 
than that of the medium in which they live. All 
animals, strictly speaking, are warm-blooded; but 
in those only which possess lungs is the temperature 
of the body quite independent of the surrounding 
medium. (5) 

The most trustworthy observations prove that in 
all climates, in the temperate zones as well as at 
the equator or the poles, the temperature of the 
body in man, and in what are commonly called warm- 
blooded animals, is invariably the same ; yet how dif- 
ferent are the circumstances under which they live! 

The animal body is a heated mass, which bears the 
same relation to surrounding objects as any other 
heated mass. It receives heat when the surround- 
ing objects are hotter, it loses heat when they are 
colder than itself. 

c 2 


20 UNIFORM TEMPERATURE 


We know that the rapidity of cooling increases 
with the difference between the temperature of the 
heated body and that of the surrounding medium ; 
that is, the colder the surrounding medium the 
shorter the time required for the cooling of the 
heated body. 

How unequal, then, must be the loss of heat in a 
man at Palermo, where the external temperature 
is nearly equal to that of the body, and in the polar 
regions, where the external temperature is from 70° 
to 90° lower. 

Yet, notwithstanding this extremely unequal loss 
of heat, experience has shewn that the blood of the 
inhabitant of the arctic circle has a temperature as 
high as that of the native of the south, who lives in 
so different a medium. 

This fact, when its true significance is perceived, 
proves that the heat given off to the surrounding 
medium is restored within the body with great 
rapidity. This compensation takes place more ra- 
pidly in winter than in summer, at the pole than at 
the equator. 

Now, in different climates the quantity of oxygen 
introduced into the system of respiration, as has 
been already shewn, varies according to the tempe- 
rature of the external air; the quantity of inspired 
oxygen increases with the loss of heat by external 
cooling, and the quantity of carbon or hydrogen 
necessary to combine with this oxygen must be 
increased in the same ratio. 


OF THE ANIMAL BODY. ot 


It is evident that the supply of the heat lost by 
cooling is effected by the mutual action of the 
elements of the food and the inspired oxygen, which 
combine together. To make use of a familiar, but 
not on that account a less just illustration, the 
animal body acts, in this respect, as a furnace, 
which we supply with fuel. It signifies nothing 
what intermediate forms food may assume, what 
changes it may undergo in the body, the last 
change is uniformly the conversion of its carbon 
into carbonic acid, and of its hydrogen into water ; 
the unassimilated nitrogen of the food, along with 
the unburned or unoxidised carbon, is expelled in 
the urine or in the solid excrements. In order to 
keep up in the furnace a constant temperature, we 
must vary the supply of fuel according to the exter- 
nal temperature, that is, according to the supply of 
oxygen. 

In the animal body the food is the fuel; with a 
proper supply of oxygen we obtain the heat given 
out during its oxidation or combustion. In winter, 
when we take exercise in a cold atmosphere, and 
when consequently the amount of inspired oxygen 
increases, the necessity for food containing carbon 
and hydrogen increases in the same ratio; and by 
gratifying the appetite thus excited, we obtain the 
most efficient protection against the most piercing 
cold. <A starving man is soon frozen to death; and 
every one knows that the animals of prey in the arctic 
regions far exceed in voracity those of the torrid zone, 


22 THE AMOUNT OF OXYGEN 


In cold and temperate climates, the air, which 
incessantly strives to consume the body, urges man 
to laborious efforts in order to furnish the means of 
resistance to its action, while, in hot climates, the 
necessity of labour to provide food is far less urgent. 

Our clothing is merely an equivalent for a certain 
amount of food. The more warmly we are clothed 
the less urgent becomes the appetite for food, be- 
cause the loss of heat by cooling, and consequently 
the amount of heat to be supplied by the food, is 
diminished. 

If we were to go naked, like certain savage 
tribes, or if in hunting or fishing we were exposed 
to the same degree of cold as the Samoyedes, we 
should be able with ease to consume 10 lbs. of flesh, 
and perhaps a dozen of tallow candles into the bar- 
gain, daily, as warmly clad travellers have related 
with astonishment of these people. We should then 
also be able to take the same quantity of brandy or 
train oil without bad effects, because the carbon and 
hydrogen of these substances would only suffice to 
keep up the equilibrium between the external tem- 
perature and that of our bodies. 

According to the preceding expositions, the quan- 
tity of food is regulated by the number of respira- 
tions, by the temperature of the air, and by the 
amount of heat given off to the surrounding me- 
dium. 

No isolated fact, apparently opposed to this state- 
ment, can affect the truth of this natural law. 


REGULATES THAT OF FOOD. yi 


Without temporary or permanent injury to health, 
the Neapolitan cannot take more carbon and hydro- 
gen in the shape of food than he expires as carbonic 
acid and water; and the Esquimaux cannot expire 
more carbon and hydrogen than he takes into the 
system as food, unless in a state of disease or of 
starvation. Let us examine these states a little 
more closely. 

The Englishman in Jamaica sees with regret the 
disappearance of his appetite, previously a source of 
frequently recurring enjoyment; and he succeeds, 
by the use of cayenne pepper and the most powerful 
stimulants, in enabling himself to take as much food 
as he was accustomed to eat at home. But the 
whole of the carbon thus introduced into the system 
is not consumed ; the temperature of the air is too 
high, and the oppressive heat does not allow him to 
increase the number of respirations by active exer- 
cise, and thus to proportion the waste to the amount 
of food taken; disease of some kind, therefore, ensues. 

On the other hand, England sends her sick, whose 
diseased digestive organs have in a greater or less 
degree lost the power of bringing the food into that 
state in which it is best adapted for oxidation, 
and therefore furnish less resistance to the oxidis- 
ing agency of the atmosphere than is required in 
their native climate, to southern regions, where the 
amount of inspired oxygen is diminished in so great 
a proportion ; and the result, an improvement in the 
health, is obvious. The diseased organs of digestion 


24 HYDROGEN CONTRIBUTES 


have sufficient power to place the diminished amount 
of food in equilibrium with the inspired oxygen; in 
the colder climate, the organs of respiration them- 
selves would have been consumed in furnishing the 
necessary resistance to the action of the atmospheric 
oxygen. 

In our climate, hepatic diseases, or those arising 
from excess of carbon, prevail in summer ; in winter, 
pulmonic diseases, or those arising from excess of 
oxygen, are more frequent. 

The cooling of the body, by whatever cause it 
may be produced, increases the amount of food 
necessary. The mere exposure to the open air, in 
a carriage or on the deck of a ship, by increasing 
radiation and vaporization, increases the loss of heat, 
and compels us to eat more than usual. The same 
is true of those who are accustomed to drink large 
quantities of cold water, which is given off at the 
temperature of the body, 98°5°. It increases the 
appetite, and persons of weak constitution find it 
necessary, by continued exercise, to supply to the 
system the oxygen required to restore the heat 
abstracted by the cold water. Loud and long con- 
tinued speaking, the crying of infants, moist air, all 
exert a decided and appreciable influence on the 
amount of food which is taken. 


IV. In the foregoing pages, it has been assumed 
that it is especially carbon and hydrogen which, by 
combining with oxygen, serve to produce animal 


TO THE ANIMAL HEAT. 25 


heat. In fact, observation proves that the hydrogen 
of the food plays a not less important part than 
the carbon. 

The whole process of respiration appears most 
clearly developed, when we consider the state of 
aman, or other animal, totally deprived of food. 

The first effect of starvation is the disappearance 
of fat, and this fat cannot be traced either in the 
urine or in the scanty feces. Its carbon and hydro- 
gen have been given off through the skin and lungs 
in the form of oxidised products ; it is obvious that 
they have served to support respiration. 

In the case of a starving man, 324 oz. of oxygen 
enter the system daily, and are given out again in 
combination with a part of his body. Currie men- 
tions the case of an individual who was unable to 
swallow, and whose body lost 100 Ibs. in weight 
during a month ; and, according to Martell (Trans. 
Linn. Soe., vol. xi. p. 411), a fat pig, overwhelmed 
in a slip of earth, lived 160 days without food, and 
was found to have diminished in weight, in that 
time, more than 120 Ibs. The whole history of 
hybernating animals, and the well-established facts 
of the periodical accumulation, in various animals, 
of fat, which, at other periods, entirely disappears, 
prove that the oxygen, in the respiratory process, 
consumes, without exception, all such substances as 
are capable of entering into combination with it. 
It combines with whatever is presented to it; and 
the deficiency of hydrogen is the only reason why 


26 EFFECTS OF STARVATION. 


carbonic acid is the chief product; for, at the tem- 
perature of the body, the affinity of hydrogen for 
oxygen far surpasses that of carbon for the same 
element. 

We know, in fact, that the graminivora expire a 
volume of carbonic acid equal to that of the oxygen 
inspired, while the carnivora, the only class of 
animals whose food contains fat, inspire more oxy- 
gen than is equal in volume to the carbonic acid 
expired. Exact experiments have shewn, that in 
many cases only half the volume of oxygen is ex- 
pired in the form of carbonic acid. These observa- 
tions cannot be gainsaid, and are far more convinc- 
ing than those arbitrary and artificially produced 
phenomena, sometimes called experiments ; experi- 
ments which, made as too often they are, without 
regard to the necessary and natural conditions, pos- 
sess no value, and may be entirely dispensed with ; 
especially when, as in the present case, nature 
affords the opportunity for observation, and when 
we make a rational use of that opportunity. 

In the progress of starvation, however, it is not 
only the fat which disappears, but also, by degrees, 
all such of the solids as are capable of being dis- 
solved. In the wasted bodies of those who have 
suffered starvation, the muscles are shrunk and 
unnaturally soft, and have lost their contractility ; 
all those parts of the body which were capable of 
entering into the state of motion have served to 
protect the remainder of the frame from the 


DEATH CAUSED BY RESPIRATION. oy 


destructive influence of the atmosphere. Towards 
the end, the particles of the brain begin to undergo 
the process of oxidation, and delirium, mania, and 
death close the scene; that is to say, all resistance 
to the oxidising power of the atmospheric oxygen 
ceases, and the chemical process of eremacausis, or 
decay, commences, in which every part of the body, 
the bones excepted, enters into combination with 
oxygen. 

The time which is required to cause death by 
starvation depends on the amount of fat in the 
body, on the degree of exercise, as in labour or ex- 
ertion of any kind, on the temperature of the air, 
and finally, on the presence or absence of water. 
Through the skin and lungs there escapes a certain 
quantity of water, and as the presence of water is 
essential to the continuance of the vital motions, its 
dissipation hastens death. Cases have occurred, in 
which a full supply of water being accessible to the 
sufferer, death has not occurred till after the lapse 
of twenty days. In one ease, life was sustained in 
this way for the period of sixty days. 

In all chronic diseases death is produced by the 
same cause, namely, the chemical action of the atmo- 
sphere. When those substances are wanting, whose 
function in the organism is to support the process 
of respiration ; when the diseased organs are inca- 
pable of performing their proper function of produc- 
ing these substances ; when they have lost the power 
of transforming the food into that shape in which it 


28 RESPIRATION TENDS TO 


may, by entering into combination with the oxygen 
of the air, protect the system from its influence, then, 
the substance of the organs themselves, the fat of 
the body, the substance of the muscles, the nerves, 
and the brain, are unavoidably consumed.* 

The true cause of death in these cases is the respi- 
ratory process, that is, the action of the atmosphere. 

A deficiency of food, and a want of power to con- 
vert the food into a part of the organism, are both, 
equally, a want of resistance ; and this is the nega- 
tive cause of the cessation of the vital process. The 
flame is extinguished, because the oil is consumed ; 
and it is the oxygen of the air which has consumed it. 

In many diseases substances are produced which 
are incapable of assimilation. By the mere depriva- 
tion of food, these substances are removed from the 
body without leaving a trace behind; their elements 
have entered into combination with the oxygen of 
the air. 

From the first moment that the function of the 
lungs or of the skin is interrupted or disturbed, 
compounds, rich in carbon, appear in the urine, 
which acquires a brown colour. Over the whole 
surface of the body oxygen is absorbed, and combines 
with all the substances which offer no resistance to 
it. In those parts of the body where the access of 


* For an account of what really takes place in this process, I 
refer to the considerations on the means by which the change of 
matter is effected in the body of the carnivora, which will be found 
further on. 


CONSUME THE BODY. 29 


oxygen is impeded ; for example, in the arm-pits, or 
in the soles of the feet, peculiar compounds are given 
out, recognisable by their appearance, or by their 
odour. These compounds contain much carbon. 

Respiration is the falling weight, the bent spring, 
which keeps the clock in motion; the inspirations 
and expirations are the strokes of the pendulum 
which regulate it. In our ordinary time-pieces, we 
know with mathematical accuracy the effect pro- 
duced on their rate of going, by changes in the 
length of the pendulum, or in the external tempe- 
rature. Few, however, have a clear conception of 
the influence of air and temperature on the health 
of the human body; and yet the research into the 
conditions necessary to keep it in the normal state, 
is not more difficult than in the case of a clock. 


V. The want of a just conception of force and 
effect, and of the connection of natural phenomena, 
has led chemists to attribute a part of the heat gene- 
rated in the animal body to the action of the ner- 
vous system. If this view exclude chemical action, 
or changes in the arrangement of the elementary 
particles, as a condition of nervous agency, it means 
nothing else than to derive the presence of motion, 
the manifestation of a force, from nothing. But no 
force, no power can come of nothing. 

No one will seriously deny the share which the 
nervous apparatus has in the respiratory process ; 


bd 


for no change of condition can occur in the body 


30 NERVES AND MUSCLES 


without the nerves; they are essential to all vital 
motions. Under their influence, the viscera produce 
those compounds, which, while they protect the orga- 
nism from the action of the oxygen of the atmo- 
sphere, give rise to animal heat; and when the 
nerves cease to perform their functions, the whole 
process of the action of oxygen must assume another 
form. When the pons Varolii is cut through in the 
dog, or when a stunning blow is inflicted on the 
back of the head, the animal continues to respire for 
some time, often more rapidly than in the normal 
state; the frequency of the pulse at first rather 
increases than diminishes, yet the animal cools as 
rapidly as if sudden death had occurred. Exactly 
similar observations have been made on the cutting 
of the spinal cord, and of the par vagum. The 
respiratory motions continue for a time, but the 
oxygen does not meet with those substances with 
which, in the normal state, it would have combined ; 
because the paralyzed viscera will no longer furnish 
them. The singular idea that the nerves produce 
animal heat, has obviously arisen from the notion 
that the inspired oxygen combines with carbon, in 
the blood itself; in which case the temperature of 
the body, in the above experiments, certainly, ought 
not to have sunk. But, as we shall afterwards see, 
there cannot be a more erroneous conception than 
this. 

As by the division of the pneumogastric nerves 
the motion of the stomach and the secretion of the 


NOT THE SOURCE OF ANIMAL HEAT. 31 


gastric juice are arrested, and an immediate check is 
thus given to the process of digestion, so the paraly- 
sis of the organs of vital motion in the abdominal 
viscera affects the process of respiration. These 
processes are most intimately connected ; and every 
disturbance of the nervous system or of the nerves of 
digestion re-acts visibly on the process of respiration. 

The observation has been made, that heat is pro- 
duced by the contraction of the muscles, just as in a 
piece of caoutchouc, which, when rapidly drawn out, 
forcibly contracts again, with disengagement of heat. 
Some have gone so far as to ascribe a part of the 
animal heat to the mechanical motions of the body, 
as if these motions could exist without an expendi- 
ture of force consumed in producing them; how 
then, we may ask, is this force produced @ 

By the combustion of carbon, by the solution of 
a metal in an acid, by the combination of the two 
electricities, positive and negative, by the absorption 
of light, and even by the rubbing of two solid bodies 
together with a certain degree of rapidity, heat may 
be produced. 

By a number of causes, in appearance entirely dis- 
tinct, we can thus produce one and the same effect. 
In combustion and in the production of galvanic 
electricity we have a change of condition in material 
particles ; when heat is produced by the absorption 
of light or by friction, we have the conversion of one 
kind of motion into another, which affects our senses 
differently. In all such cases we have a something 


32 TRUE SOURCE OF 


given, which merely takes another form; in all we 
have a force and its effect. By means of the fire 
which heats the boiler of a steam-engine we can 
produce every kind of motion, and by a certain 
amount of motion we can produce fire. 

When we rub a piece of sugar briskly on an iron 
grater, it undergoes, at the surfaces of contact, the 
same change as if exposed to heat ; and two pieces 
of ice, when rubbed together, melt at the point of 
contact. 

Let us remember that the most distinguished 
authorities in physics consider the phenomena of 
heat as phenomena of motion, because the very 
conception of the creation of matter, even though 
imponderable, is absolutely irreconcilable with its 
production by mechanical causes, such as friction or 
motion. 

But, admitting all the influence which electric or 
magnetic disturbances in the animal body can have 
on the functions of its organs, still the ultimate 
cause of all these forces is a change of condition in 
material particles, which may be expressed by the con- 
version, within a certain time, of the elements of the 
food into oxidised products. Such of these elements 
as do not undergo this process of slow combustion, 
are given off unburned or incombustible in the ex- 
crements. i 

Now, it is absolutely impossible that a given 
amount of carbon or hydrogen, whatever different 
forms they may assume in the progress of the com- 


ANIMAL HEAT. 33 


bustion, can produce more heat than if directly 
burned in atmospheric air or in oxygen gas. 

When we kindle a fire under a steam-engine, and 
employ the power obtained to produce heat by 
friction, it is impossible that the heat thus obtained 
can ever be greater than that which was required 
to heat the boiler; and if we use the galvanic cur- 
rent to produce heat, the amount of heat obtained 
is never, in any circumstances, greater than we 
might have by the combustion of the zine which 
has been dissolved in the acid. 

The contraction of muscles produces heat; but 
the force necessary for the contraction has mani- 
fested itself through the organs of motion, in which 
it has been excited by chemical changes. The ul- 
timate cause of the heat produced is therefore to 
be found in these chemical changes. 

By dissolving a metal in an acid, we produce an 
electrical current ; this current, if passed through a 
wire, converts the wire into a magnet, by means of 
which many different effects may be produced. The 
cause of these phenomena is magnetism; the cause 
of the magnetic phenomena is to be found in the 
electrical current; and the ultimate cause of the 
electrical current is found to be a chemical change, 
a chemical action. 

There are various causes by which force or motion 
may be produced. <A bent spring, a current of 
air, the fall of water, fire applied to a boiler, the 
solution of a metal in an acid,—all these different 

D 


34 GREAT AMOUNT 


causes of motion may be made to produce the 
same effect. But in the animal body we recognize 
as the ultimate cause of all force only one cause, 
the chemical action which the elements of the food 
and the oxygen of the air mutually exercise on each 
other. The only known ultimate cause of vital 
force, either in animals or in plants, is a chemical 
process. If this be prevented, the phenomena of 
life do not manifest themselves, or they cease to be 
recognizable by our senses. If the chemical action — 
be impeded, the vital phenomena must take new 
forms. 

According to the experiments of Despretz, I oz. 
of carbon evolves, during its combustion, as much 
heat as would raise the temperature of 105 oz. of 
water at 32° to 167°, that is, by 135 degrees ; in all, 
therefore, 105 times 135°—14207 degrees of heat. 
Consequently, the 13-9 oz. of carbon which are daily 
converted into carbonic acid in the body of an 
adult, evolve 13:9 x14207°=197477°3 degrees of 
heat. This amount of heat is sufficient to raise the 
temperature of loz. of water by that number of 
degrees, or from 32° to 197509-°3°; or to cause 
136°8 Ibs. of water at 32° to boil; or to heat 370 lbs. 
of water to 98°3° (the temperature of the human 
body); or to convert into vapour 24 lbs. of water 
at 98:3". 

If we now assume that the quantity of water 
vaporized through the skin and lungs in 24 hours 
amounts to 48 oz. (3 lbs.), then there will remain, 


OF ANIMAL HEAT. 35 


after deducting the necessary amount of heat, 
146380-4 degrees of heat, which are dissipated by 
radiation, by heating the expired air, and in the ex- 
crementitious matters. 

In this calculation, no account has been taken of 
the heat evolved by the hydrogen of the food, during 
its conversion into water by oxidation within the 
body. But if we consider that the specific heat of 
the bones, of fat, and of the organs generally, is far 
less than that of water, and that consequently they 
require, in order to be heated to 98°3°, much less 
heat than an equal weight of water, no doubt can 
be entertained, that when all the concomitant cir- 
cumstances are included in the calculation, the heat 
evolved in the process of combustion, to which the 
food is subjected in the body, is amply sufficient to 
explain the constant temperature of the body, as 
well as the evaporation from the skin and lungs. 

VI. All experiments hitherto made on the quan- 
tity of oxygen which an animal consumes in a given 
time, and also the conclusions deduced from them 
as to the origin of animal heat, are destitute of 
practical value in regard to this question, since we 
have seen that the quantity of oxygen consumed 
varies according to the temperature and density of 
the air, according to the degree of motion, labour, 
or exercise, to the amount and quality of the food, 
to the comparative warmth of the clothing, and also 
according to the time within which the food is taken. 
Prisoners in the Bridewell at Marienschloss (a prison 


[8 


36 AMOUNT OF OXYGEN 


where labour is enforced), do not consume more than 
10:5 oz. of carbon daily; those in the House of 
Arrest at Giessen, who are deprived of all exercise, 
consume only 8°5 oz. ;(6) and in a family well known 
to me, consisting of nine individuals, five adults, and 
four children of different ages, the average daily 
consumption of carbon for each, is not more than 
9-5 oz. of carbon.* We may safely assume, as an ap- 
proximation, that the quantities of oxygen consumed 
in these different cases are in the ratio of these 
numbers; but where the food contains meat, fat, and 
wine, the proportions are altered by reason of the 
hydrogen in these kinds of food which is oxidised, 
and which, in being converted into water, evolves 
much more heat for equal weights. 

The attempts to ascertain the amount of heat 
evolved in an animal for a given consumption of 
oxygen have been equally unsatisfactory. Animals 
have been allowed to respire in close chambers sur- 
rounded with cold water; the increase of tempera- 
ture in the water has been measured by the ther- 
mometer, and the quantity of oxygen consumed has 
been calculated from the analysis of the air before 


* In this family, the monthly consumption was 151 lbs. of 
brown bread, 70 Ibs. white bread, 1321bs. meat, 19 Ibs. sugar, 
15°9 lbs. butter, 57 maass (about 24 gallons) of milk ; the carbon of 
the potatoes and other vegetables, of the poultry, game, and wine 
consumed, having been reckoned as equal to that contained in 
the excrementitious matters, the carbon of the above articles was 


considered as being converted into carbonic acid. 


CONSUMED BY ANIMALS. Se 


and after the experiment. In experiments thus 
conducted, it has been found that the animal lost 
about i's more heat than corresponded to the oxygen 
consumed ; and had the windpipe of the animal been 
tied, the strange result would have been obtained of 
a rise in the temperature of the water without any 
consumption of oxygen. The animal was at the 
temperature of 98° or 99°, and the water, in the 
experiments of Despretz, was at 47°5°. Such ex- 
periments consequently prove, that when a great 
difference exists between the temperature of the 
animal body and that of the surrounding medium, 
and when no motion is allowed, more heat is given 
off than corresponds to the oxygen consumed. In 
equal times, with free and unimpeded motion, a 
much larger quantity of oxygen would be consumed 
without a perceptible increase in the amount of 
heat lost. The cause of these phenomena is obvious. 
They appear naturally both in man and animals at 
certain seasons of the year, and we say in such cases 
that we are freezing, or experience the sensation of 
cold. It is plain, that if we were to clothe a man 
in a metallic dress, and tie up his hands and feet, 
the loss of heat, for the same consumption of oxygen, 
would be far greater than if we were to wrap him 
up in fur and woollen cloth. Nay, in the latter 
case, we should see him begin to perspire, and warm 
water would exude, in drops, through the finest 
pores of his skin. 


if to these considerations we add, that decisive 


38 NERVOUS AND 


experiments are on record, in which animals were 
made to respire in an unnatural position, as for 
example, lying on the back, with the limbs tied so 
as to preclude motion, and that the temperature of 
their bodies was found to sink in a degree appreci- 
able by the thermometer, we can hardly be at a 
loss what value we ought to attach to the conclu- 
sions drawn from such experiments as those above 
described. 

These experiments and the conclusions deduced 
from them, in short, are incapable of furnishing the 
smallest support to the opinion that there exists, in 
the animal body, any other unknown source of heat, 
besides the mutual chemical action between the ele- 
ments of the food and the oxygen of the air. The ex- 
istence of the latter cannot be doubted or denied, and 
it is amply sufficient to explain all the phenomena. 


VII. If we designate the production of force, the 
phenomena of motion in the animal body as nervous 
fife, and the resistance, the condition of static equi- 
librium, as vegetative life; it is obvious that in all 
classes of animals the latter, namely, vegetative life, 
prevails over the former, nervous life, in the earlier 
stages of existence. 

The passage or change of matter from a state of 
motion to a state of rest appears in an increase of 
the mass, and in the supply of waste; while the 
motion itself, or the production of force, appears in 
the shape of waste of matter. 


VEGETATIVE LIFE. 39 


In a young animal, the waste is less than the 
increase; and the female retains, up to a certain 
age, this peculiar condition of a more intense vege- 
tative life. This condition does not cease in the 
female as in the male, with the complete develope- 
ment of all the organs of the body. 

The female in the lower animals, is, at certain 
seasons, capable of reproduction of the species. The 
vegetative life in her organism is rendered more in- 
tense by certain external conditions, such as tempe- 
rature, food, &c.; the organism produces more than is 
wasted, and the result is the capacity of reproduction. 

In the human species, the female organism is 
independent of those external causes which increase 
the intensity of vegetative life. When the organ- 
ism is fully developed, it is at all times capable of 
reproduction of the species; and infinite wisdom 
has given to the female body the power, up to a cer- 
tain age, of producing all parts of its organisation in 
greater quantity than is required to supply the daily 
waste. 

This excess of production can be shewn to contain 
all the elements of a new organism, it is constantly 
accumulating, and is periodically expelled from the 
body, until it is expended in reproduction. This 
periodical discharge ceases when the ovum has been 
impregnated, and from this time every drop of the 
superabundant blood goes to produce an organism 
like that of the mother. 

Exercise and labour cause a diminution in the 


40 NUTRITION DEPENDS ON THE 


quantity of the menstrual discharge; and when it is 
suppressed in consequence of disease, the vegetative 
life is manifested in a morbid production of fat. 
When the equilibrium between the vegetative and 
nervous life is disturbed in the male, when, as in 
eunuchs, the intensity of the latter is diminished, 
the predominance of the former is shewn in the 
same form, in an increased deposit of fat. 


VIII. If we hold, that increase of mass in the 
animal body, the developement of its organs, and 
the supply of waste,—that all this is dependant on 
the blood, that is, on the ingredients of the blood, 
then only those substances can properly be called 
nutritious or considered as food which are capable 
of conversion into blood. To determine, therefore, 
what substances are capable of affording nourish- 
ment, it is only necessary to ascertain the composi- 
tion of the food, and to compare it with that of the 
ingredients of the blood. 

Two substances require especial consideration as 
the chief ingredients of the blood; one of these 
separates immediately from the blood when with- 
drawn from the circulation. It is well known that 
in this case blood coagulates, and separates into a 
yellowish liquid, the serwm of the blood, and a gela- 
tinous mass, which adheres to a red or stick in soft, 
elastic fibres, when coagulating blood is’ briskly 
stirred. This is the fibrine of the blood, which is 
identical in all its properties with muscular fibre, 


- CONSTITUENTS OF BLOOD. 41 


when the latter is purified from all foreign mat- 
ters. 

The second principal ingredient of the blood is 
contained in the serum, and gives to this liquid all 
the properties of the white of eggs, with which it is 
identical. When heated, it coagulates into a white 
elastic mass, and the coagulating substance is 
called albumen. 

Fibrine and albumen, the chief ingredients of 
blood, contain, in all, seven chemical elements, 
among which nitrogen, phosphorus, and sulphur are 
found. They contain also the earth of bones. The 
serum retains in solution sea salt and other salts of 
potash and soda, in which the acids are carbonic, 
phosphoric, and sulphuric acids. The globules of the 
blood contain fibrine and albumen, along with a red 
colouring matter, in which iron is a constant ele- 
ment. Besides these, the blood contains certain 
fatty bodies in small quantity, which differ from 
ordinary fats in several of their properties. 

Chemical analysis has led to the remarkable re- 
sult, that fibrine and albumen contain the same 
organic elements united in the same proportion, so 
that two analyses, the one of fibrine and the other 
of albumen, do not differ more than two analyses of 
fibrine or two of albumen respectively do, in the 
composition of 100 parts. 

In these two ingredients of blood the particles 
are arranged in a different order, as is shewn by the 
difference of their external properties; but in che- 


42 IDENTITY OF ANIMAL 


mical composition, in the ultimate proportion of the 
organic elements, they are identical. 

This conclusion has lately been beautifully con- 
firmed by a distinguished physiologist (Dénis), who 
has succeeded in converting fibrine into albumen, 
that is, in giving it the solubility, and coagulability 
by heat, which characterize the white of egg. 

Fibrine and albumen, besides having the same 
composition, agree also in this, that both dissolve in 
concentrated muriatic acid, yielding a solution of an 
intense purple colour. This solution, whether made 
with fibrine or albumen, has the very same re-actions 
with all substances yet tried. 

Both albumen and fibrine, in the process of nutri- 
tion, are capable of being converted into muscular 
fibre, and muscular fibre is capable of being recon- 
verted into blood. These facts have long been esta- 
blished by physiologists, and chemistry has merely 
proved that these metamorphoses can be accom- 
plished under the influence of a certain force, with- 
out the aid of a third substance, or of its elements, 
and without the addition of any foreign element, or 
the separation of any element previously present in 
these substances. 

If we now compare the composition of all organ- 
ised parts with that of fibrine and albumen, the fol- 
lowing relations present themselves :— 

All parts of the animal body which have a decided 
shape, which form parts of organs, contain nitrogen. 
No part of an organ which possesses motion and life 


FIBRINE AND ALBUMEN. 43 


is destitute of nitrogen ; all of them contain likewise 
carbon and the elements of water, the latter, 
however, in no case in the proportion to form 
water. 

The chief ingredients of the blood contain nearly 
17 per cent. of nitrogen, and no part of an organ 
contains less than 17 per cent. of nitrogen. (7) 

The most convincing experiments and observa- 
tions have proved that the animal body is absolutely 
incapable of producing an elementary body, such as 
carbon or nitrogen, out of substances which do not 
contain it; and it obviously follows, that all kinds 
of food fit for the production either of blood, or of 
cellular tissue, membranes, skin, hair, muscular fibre, 
&c., must contain a certain amount of nitrogen, 
because that element is essential to the composition 
of the above-named organs; because the organs can- 
not create it from the other elements presented to 
them ; and, finally, because no nitrogen is absorbed 
from the atmosphere in the vital process. 

The substance of the brain and nerves contains a 
large quantity of albumen, and, in addition to this, 
two peculiar fatty acids, distinguished from other fats 
by containing phosphorus (phosphoric acid 7). One of 
these contains nitrogen (Frémy). 

Finally, water and common fat are those ingre- 
dients of the body which are destitute of nitrogen. 
Both are amorphous or unorganised, and only so far 
take part in the vital process as that their presence 
is required for the due performance of the vital 


4) he; F , 
)tte Nee (27) A fife: 


44 NUTRITION OF GRAMINIVORA. 


functions. The inorganic constituents of the body 
are, iron, lime, magnesia, common salt, and the alka- 
lies. 


IX. The nutritive process in the carnivora is seen 
in its simplest form. This class of animals lives on 
the blood and flesh of the graminivora; but this 
blood and flesh is, in all its properties, identical with 
their own. Neither chemical nor physiological dif- 
ferences can be discovered. 

The nutriment of carnivorous animals is derived 
originally from blood; in their stomach it becomes 
dissolved, and capable of reaching all other parts 
of the body ; in its passage it is again converted into 
blood, and from this blood are reproduced all those 
parts of their organisation which have undergone 
change or metamorphosis. 

With the exception of hoofs, hair, feathers, and 
the earth of bones, every part of the food of carni- 
vorous animals is capable of assimilation. 

In a chemical sense, therefore, it may be said that 
a carnivorous animal, in supporting the vital pro- 
cess, consumes itself. That which serves for its 
nutrition is identical with those parts of its organ- 
isation which are to be renewed. 

The process of nutrition in graminivorous animals 
appears at first sight altogether different. Their 
digestive organs are less simple, and their food con- 
sists of vegetables, the great mass of which contains 
but little nitrogen. 


VEGETABLE FIBRINE. 45 


From what substances, it may be asked, is the 
blood formed, by means of which their organs are 
developed? This question may be answered with 
certainty. 

Chemical researches have shewn, that all such 
parts of vegetables as can afford nutriment to ani- 
mals contain certain constituents which are rich in 
nitrogen; and the most ordinary experience proves 
that animals require for their support and nutrition 
less of these parts of plants in proportion as they 
abound in the nitrogenised constituents. Animals 
cannot be fed on matters destitute of these nitro- 
genised constituents. 

These important products of vegetation are espe- 
cially abundant in the seeds of the different kinds 
of grain, and of pease, beans, and lentils; in the 
roots and the juices of what are commonly called 
vegetables. They exist, however, in all plants, 
without exception, and in every part of plants in 
larger or smaller quantity. 

These nitrogenised forms of nutriment in the 
vegetable kingdom may be reduced to three sub- 
stances, which are easily distinguished by their ex- 
ternal characters. Two of them are soluble in 
water, the third is insoluble. 

When the newly-expressed juices of vegetables 
are allowed to stand, a separation takes place in a 
few minutes. A. gelatinous precipitate, commonly 
of a green tinge, is deposited, and this, when acted 
on by liquids which remove the colouring matter, 


AG VEGETABLE FIBRINE, 


leaves a greyish white substance, well known to 
druggists as the deposit from vegetable juices. This 
is one of the nitrogenised compounds which serves 
for the nutrition of animals, and has been named 
vegetable fibrine. The juice of grapes is especially 
rich in this constituent, but it is most abundant in 
the seeds of wheat, and of the cerealia generally. 
It may be obtained from wheat flour by a mechan- 
ical operation, and in a state of tolerable purity; 
it is then called gluten, but the glutinous property 
belongs, not to vegetable fibrine, but to a foreign 
substance, present in small quantity, which is not 
found in the other cerealia. 

The method by which it is obtained sufficiently 
proves that it is insoluble in water; although we 
cannot doubt that it was originally dissolved in the 
vegetable juice, from which it afterwards separated, 
exactly as fibrine does from blood. 

The second nitrogenised compound remains dis- 
solved in the juice after the separation of the fibrine. 
It does not separate from the juice at the ordinary 
temperature, but is instantly coagulated when the 
liquid containing it is heated to the boiling point. 

When the clarified juice of nutritious vegetables, 
such as cauliflower, asparagus, mangel wurzel, or 
turnips, is made to boil, a coagulum is formed, which 
it is absolutely impossible to distinguish from the 
substance which separates as a coagulum, when 
the serum of blood or the white of an egg, di- 
luted with water, are heated to the boiling point. 


ALBUMEN, AND CASEINE. 47 


This is vegetable albumen. It is found in the great- 
est abundance in certain seeds, in nuts, almonds, 
and others, in which the starch of the graminez is 
replaced by oil. 

The third nitrogenised constituent of the vegeta- 
ble food of animals is vegetable caseine. It is chiefly 
found in the seeds of pease, beans, lentils, and 
similar leguminous seeds. Like vegetable albumen, 
it is soluble in water, but differs from it in this, that 
its solution is not coagulated by heat. When the 
solution is heated or evaporated, a skin forms on its 
surface, and the addition of an acid causes a coagu- 
lum, just as in animal milk. 

These three nitrogenised compounds, vegetable 
fibrine, albumen, and easeine, are the true nitro- 
genised constituents of the food of graminivorous 
animals ; all other nitrogenised compounds, occur- 
ring in plants, are either rejected by animals, as in 
the case of the characteristic principles of poisonous 
and medicinal plants, or else they occur in the food 
in such very small proportion, that they cannot 
possibly contribute to the increase of mass in the 
animal body. 

The chemical analysis of these three substances 
has led to the very interesting result that they con- 
tain the same organic elements, united in the same 
proportion by weight; and, what is still more re- 
markable, that they are identical in composition 
with the chief constituents of blood, animal fibrine, 
and albumen. ‘They all three dissolve in concen- 


48 IDENTITY OF ANIMAL WITH 


trated muriatic acid with the same deep purple 
colour, and even in their physical characters, animal 
fibrine and albumen are in no respect different from 
vegetable fibrine and albumen. It is especially to 
be noticed, that by the phrase, identity of composi- 
tion, we do not here imply mere similarity, but that 
even in regard to the presence and relative amount 
of sulphur, phosphorus, and phosphate of lime, no 
difference can be observed. (8) 

How beautifully and admirably simple, with the 
aid of these discoveries, appears the process of nu- 
trition in animals, the formation of their organs, 
in which vitality chiefly resides! Those vegetable 
principles, which in animals are used to form blood, 
contain the chief constituents of blood, fibrine and 
albumen, ready formed, as far as regards their 
composition. All plants, besides, contain a certain 
quantity of iron, which re-appears in the colouring 
matter of the blood. Vegetable fibrine and animal 
fibrine, vegetable albumen and animal albumen, 
hardly differ, even in form; if these principles be 
wanting in the food, the nutrition of the animal is 
arrested ; and when they are present, the gramini- 
vorous animal obtains in its food the very same 
principles on the presence of which the nutrition of 
the carnivora entirely depends. 

Vegetables produce in their organism the blood 
of all animals, for the carnivora, in consuming the 
blood and flesh of the graminivora, consume, strictly 
speaking, only the vegetable principles which have 


VEGETABLE FIBRINE, &c. 49 


served for the nutrition of the latter. Vegetable 
fibrine and albumen take the same form in the 
stomach of the graminivorous animal as animal 
fibrine and albumen do in that of the carnivorous 
animal. 

From what has been said, it follows that the de- 
velopement of the animal organism and its growth 
are dependant on the reception of certain principles 
identical with the chief constituents of blood. 

In this sense we may say that the animal organ- 
ism gives to blood only its form; that it is incapable 
of creating blood out of other substances which do 
not already contain the chief constituents of that 
fluid. We cannot, indeed, maintain that the animal 
organism has no power to form other compounds, 
for we know that it is capable of producing an 
extensive series of compounds, differing in composi- 
tion from the chief constituents of blood; but these 
last, which form the starting point of the series, it 
cannot produce. 

The animal organism is a higher kind of vege- 
table, the developement of which begins with those 
substances, with the production of which the life of 
an ordinary vegetable ends. As soon as the latter 
has borne seed, it dies, or a period of its life comes 
to a termination. 

In that endless series of compounds, which begins 
with carbonic acid, ammonia, and water, the sources 
of the nutrition of vegetables, and includes the 
most complex constituents of the animal brain, 

E 


50 USES OF THE STARCH, 


there is no blank, no interruption. The first sub- 
stance capable of affording nutriment to animals is 
the last product of the creative energy of vege- 
tables. 

The substance of cellular tissue and of mem- 
branes, of the brain and nerves, these the vegetable 
cannot produce. 

The seemingly miraculous in the productive 
agency of vegetables disappears in a great degree, 
when we refiect that the production of the consti- 
tuents of blood cannot appear more surprising than 
the occurrence of the fat of beef and mutton in 
cocoa beans, of human fat in olive oil, of the prim- 
cipal ingredient of butter in palm oil, and of horse 
fat and train oil in certain oily seeds. 


X. While the preceding considerations leave lit- 
tle or no doubt as to the way in which the increase 
of mass in an animal, that is, its growth, is carried 
on, there is yet to be resolved a most important 
question, namely, that of the function performed in 
the animal system by substances containing no nitro- 
gen, such as sugar, starch, gum, pectine, &e. 

The most extensive class of animals, the grami- 
nivora, cannot live without these substances; their 
food must contain a certain amount of one or more 
of them, and if these compounds are not supplied, 
death quickly ensues. 

This important inquiry extends also to the consti- 
tuents of the food of carnivorous animals in the ear- 


SUGAR, &c. IN THE FOOD. 51 


liest periods of life; for this food also contains sub- 
stances, which are not necessary for their support in 
the adult state. 

The nutrition of the young of carnivora is obvi- 
ously accomplished by means similar to those by 
which the graminivora are nourished ; their develope- 
ment is dependant on the supply of a fluid, which 
the body of the mother secretes in the shape of 
milk. 

Milk contains only one nitrogenised constituent, 
known under the name of caseine; besides this, its 
chief ingredients are butter (fat), and sugar of milk. 

The blood of the young animal, its muscular fibre 
eellular tissue, nervous matter, and bones, must have 
derived their origin from the nitrogenised constitu- 
ent of milk, the caseine; for butter and sugar of 
milk contain no nitrogen. 

Now, the analysis of caseine has led to the result, 
which, after the details given in the last section, ean 
hardly excite surprise, that this substance also is 
identical in composition with the chief constituents 
of blood, fibrine and albumen. Nay, more, a com- 
parison of its properties with those of vegetable ca- 
seine has shewn that these two substances are iden- 
tical in all their properties ; insomuch, that certain 
plants, such as peas, beans, and lentils, are capable 
of producing the same substance which is formed 
from the blood of the mother, and employed in 
yielding the blood of the young animal. (9) 

The young animal, therefore, receives, in the form 

E 2 


52 ANIMAL AND VEGETABLE 


of caseine, which is distinguished from fibrine and 
albumen by its great solubility, and by not coagu- 
lating when heated, the chief constituent of the mo- 
ther’s blood. To convert caseine into blood no fo- 
reign substance is required, and in the conversion 
of the mother’s blood into caseine, no elements of 
the constituents of the blood have been separated. 
When chemically examined, caseine is found to 
contain a much larger proportion of the earth of 
bones than blood does, and that in a very soluble 
form, capable of reaching every part of the body. 
Thus, even in the earliest period of its life, the de- 
velopement of the organs, in which vitality resides, 
is, in the carnivorous animal, dependant on the sup- 
ply of a substance, identical in organic composition 
with the chief constituents of its blood. 

What, then, is the use of the butter and the su- 
gar of milk ? How does it happen that these sub- 
stances are indispensable to life ? 

Butter and sugar of milk contain no fixed bases, 
no soda or potash. Sugar of milk has a composition 
closely allied to that of the other kinds of sugar, of 
starch, and of gum; all of them contain carbon and 
the elements of water, the latter precisely in the 
proportion to form water. 

There is added, therefore, by means of these com- 
pounds, to the nitrogenised constituents of food, a 
certain amount of carbon, or, as in the case of but- 
ter, of carbon and hydrogen; that is, an excess of 
elements, which cannot possibly be employed in the 


CASEINE IDENTICAL. 53 


production of blood, because the nitrogenised sub- 
stances contained in the food already contain exactly 
the amount of carbon which is required for the pro- 
duction of fibrine and albumen. 

The following considerations will shew that hardly 
a doubt can be entertained, that this excess of car- 
bon alone, or of carbon and hydrogen, is expended 
in the production of animal heat, and serves to pro- 
tect the organism from the action of the atmospheric 


oxygen. 


XI. In order to obtain a clearer insight into the 
nature of the nutritive process in both the great 
classes of animals, let us first consider the changes 
which the food of the carnivora undergoes in their 
organism. 

If we give to an adult serpent, or boa constrictor, 
a goat, arabbit, or a bird, we find that the hair, 
hoofs, horns, feathers, or bones of these animals, are 
expelled from the body apparently unchanged. They 
have retained their natural form and aspect, but 
have become brittle, because of all their component 
parts they have lost only that one which was capable 
of solution, namely, the gelatine. Feces, properly 
so called, do not occur in serpents any more than in 
carnivorous birds. 

We find, moreover, that, when the serpent has 
regained its original weight, every other part of its 
prey, the flesh, the blood, the brain, and nerves, in 


short, every thing, has disappeared. 


o4 NUTRITION OF CARNIVORA. 


The only excrement, strictly speaking, is a sub- 
stance expelled by the urinary passage. When dry, 
it is pure white, like chalk; it contains much nitro- 
gen, and a small quantity of carbonate and phos- 
phate of lime mixed with the mass. 

This excrement is urate of ammonia, a chemical 
compound, in which the nitrogen bears to the carbon 
the same proportion as in bicarbonate of ammonia. 
For every equivalent of nitrogen it contains two 
equivalents of carbon. 

But muscular fibre, blood, membranes, and skin, 
contain four times as much carbon for the same 
amount of nitrogen, or eight equivalents to one ; and 
if we add to this the carbon of the fat and nervous 
substance, it is obvious that the serpent has con- 
sumed, for every equivalent of nitrogen, much more 
than eight equivalents of carbon. 

If now we assume that the urate of ammonia con- 
tains all the nitrogen of the animal consumed, then 
at least six equivalents of carbon, which were in 
combination with this nitrogen, must have been 
given out in a different form from the two equiva- 
lents which are found in the urate of ammonia. 

Now we know, with perfect certainty, that this 
carbon has been given out through the skin and 
lungs, which could only take place in the form of an 
oxidised product. 

The excrements of a buzzard which had been fed 
with beef, when taken out of the rectum, consisted, 
according to L. Gmelin and Tiedemann, of urate of 


USES OF CARBON IN THEIR FOOD. 55) 


ammonia. In like manner, the feces in lions and 
tigers are scanty and dry, consisting chiefly of bone 
earth, with mere traces of compounds containing 
carbon; but their urine contains, not urate of am- 
monia, but urea, a compound in which carbon and 
nitrogen are to each other in the same ratio as in 
neutral carbonate of ammonia. 

Assuming that their food (flesh, &c.) contains 
carbon and nitrogen in the ratio of eight equivalents 
to one, we find these elements in their urine in the 
ratio of one equivalent to one; a smaller proportion 
of carbon, therefore, than in serpents, in which res- 
piration is so much less active. 

The whole of the carbon and hydrogen which the 
food of these animals contained, Leyond the amount 
which we find in their excrements, has disappeared, 
in the process of respiration, as carbonic acid and 
water. 

Had the animal fcod been burned in a furnace, 
the change produced in it would only have differed 
in the form of combination assumed by the nitrogen 
from that which it underwent in the body of the 
animal. The nitrogen would have appeared, with 
part of the carbon and hydrogen, as carbonate of 
ammonia, while the rest of the carbon and hydrogen 
would have formed carbonic acid and water. The 
incombustible parts would have taken the form of 
ashes, and any part of the carbon unconsumed from 
a deficiency of oxygen would have appeared as 
soot, or lamp-black. Now the solid excrements are 


D6 FOOD OF CARNIVORA 


nothing else than the incombustible, or imperfectly 
burned, parts of the food. 

In the preceding pages it has been assumed that 
the elements of the food are converted by the oxy- 
gen absorbed in the lungs into oxidised products 5 
the carbon into carbonic acid, the hydrogen into 
water, and the nitrogen into a compound con- 
taining the same elements as carbonate of am- 
monia. 

This is only true in appearance; the body, no 
doubt, after a certain time, acquires its original 
weight. The amount of carbon, and of the other 
elements, is not found to be increased—exactly as 
much carbon, hydrogen, and nitrogen has been given 
out as was supplied in the food ; but nothing is more 
certain than that the carbon, hydrogen, and nitro- 
gen given out, although equal in amount to what 
is supplied in that form, do not directly proceed 
from the food. 

It would be utterly irrational to suppose that the 
necessity of taking food, or the satisfying the appe- 
tite, had no other object than the production of 
urea, uric acid, carbonic acid, and other exeremen- 
titious matters—of substances which the system 
expels, and consequently applies to no useful pur- 
pose in the economy. 

In the adult animal, the food serves to restore 
the waste of matter; certain parts of its organs 
have lost the state of vitality, have been expelled 
from the substance of the organs, and have been 


IDENTICAL WITH THEIR BODIES. 57 


metamorphosed inte new combinations, which are 
amorphous and unorganised. 

The food of the carnivora is at once converted 
into blood; out of the newly-formed blood those 
parts of organs which have undergone metamor- 
phoses are reproduced. The carbon and nitrogen of 
the food thus become constituent parts of organs. 

Exactly as much carbon and nitrogen is supplied 
to the organs by the blood, that is, ultimately, by 
the food, as they have lost by the transformations 
attending the exercise of their functions. 

What then, it may be asked, becomes of the new 
compounds produced by the transformations of the 
organs, of the muscles, of the membranes and cel- 
lular tissue of the nerves and brain / 

These new compounds cannot, owing to their 
solubility, remain in the situation where they are 
formed, for a well-known force, namely the circu- 
lation of the blood, opposes itself to this. 

By the expansion of the heart, an organ in which 
two systems of tubes meet, which are ramified in a 
most minute network of vessels through all parts of 
the body, there is produced a vacuum, the imme- 
diate effect of which is, that all fluids which can 
penetrate into these vessels are urged with great 
force towards one side of the heart by the external 
pressure of the atmosphere. This motion is power- 
fully assisted by the contraction of the heart, alter- 
nating with its expansion, and caused by a force 
independent of the atmospheric pressure. 


D8 CARBON IS ACCUMULATED 


In a word, the heart is a forcing pump, which 
sends arterial blood into all parts of the body; and 
also a suction pump, by means of which all fluids 
of whatever kind, as soon as they enter the absorbent 
vessels which communicate with the veins, are drawn 
towards the heart. This suction, arising from the 
vacuum caused by the expansion of the heart, is a 
purely mechanical act, which extends, as above 
stated, to fluids of every kind, to saline solutions, 
poisons, &c. It is obvious, therefore, that by the 
forcible entrance of arterial blood into the capillary 
vessels, the fluids contained in these, in other words, 
the soluble compounds formed by the transforma- 
tions of organised parts, must be compelled to move 
towards the heart. 

These compounds cannot be employed for the 
reproduction of those tissues from which they are 
derived. They pass through the absorbent and 
lymphatic vessels into the veins, where their accu- 
mulation would speedily put a stop to the nutritive 
process, were it not that this accumulation is pre- 
vented by two contrivances adapted expressly to 
this purpose, and which may be compared to filtering 
machines. 

The venous blood, before reaching the heart, is 
made to pass through the liver; the arterial blood, 
on the other hand, passes through the kidneys; and 
these organs separate from both all substances in- 
capable of contributing to nutrition. 

Those new compounds which contain the nitrogen 


IN THE BILE. a9 


of the transformed organs are collected in the uri- 
nary bladder, and being utterly incapable of any 
further application in the system, are expelled from 
the body. 

Those, again, which contain the carbon of the 
transformed tissues, are collected in the gall-bladder 
in the form of a compound of soda, the bi/e, which is 
miscible with water in every proportion, and which, 
passing into the duodenum, mixes with the chyme. 
All those parts of the bile which, during the diges- 
tive process, do not lose their. solubility, return 
during that process into the circulation in a state of 
extreme division. The soda of the bile, and those 
highly carbonised portions which are not precipitated 
by a weak acid (together making vcoths of the solid 
contents of the bile), retain the capacity of resorp- 
tion by the absorbents of the small and large intes- 
tines; nay, this capacity has been directly proved 
by the administration of enemata containing bile, 
the whole of the bile disappearing with the injected 
fluid in the rectum. 

Thus we know with certainty, that the nitrogen- 
ised compounds, produced by the metamorphosis of 
organised tissues, after being separated from the 
arterial blood by means of the kidneys are expelled 
from the body as utterly incapable of further altera- 
tion; while the compounds rich in carbon, derived 
from the same source, return into the system of 
carnivorous animals. 

The food of the carnivora is identical with the 


wy 
x 


60 THE CARBON OF THE BILE 


chief constituents of their bodies, and hence the 
metamorphoses which their organs undergo must be 
the same as those which, under the influence of the 
vital force, take place in the matters which consti- 
tute their food. 

The flesh and blood consumed as food yield their 
carbon for the support of the respiratory process, 
while its nitrogen appears as uric acid, ammonia, 
or urea. But previously to these final changes, the 
dead flesh and blood become living fiesh and blood, 
and it is, strictly speaking, the carbon of the com- 
pounds formed in the metamorphoses of living tis- 
sues that serves for the production of animal heat. 

The food of the carnivora is converted into blood, 
which is destined for the reproduction of organised 
tissues; and by means of the circulation a current 
of oxygen is conveyed to every part of the body. 
The globules of the blood, which in themselves 
can be shewn to take no share in the nutritive 
process, serve to transport the oxygen, which they 
give up in their passage through the capillary 
vessels. Here the current of oxygen meets with 
the compounds produced by the transformation of 
the tissues, and combines with their carbon to form 
carbonic acid, with their hydrogen to form water. 
Every portion of these substances which escapes this 
process of oxidation is sent back into the circulation 
in the form of the bile, which by degrees completely 
disappears. 

In the carnivora the bile contains the carbon of 


UNDERGOES COMBUSTION. 61 


the metamorphosed tissues; this carbon disappears 
in the animal body, and the bile likewise disappears 
in the vital process. Its carbon and hydrogen are 
given out through the skin and lungs as carbonic 
acid and water; and hence it is obvious that the 
elements of the bile serve for respiration and 
for the production cf animal heat. Every part of 
the food of carnivorous animals is capable of 
forming blood; their excrements, excluding the 
urine, contain only inorganic substances, such as 
phosphate of lime; and the small quantity of organic 
matter which is found mixed with these is derived 
from excretions, the use of which is to promote 
their passage through the intestines, such as mucus. 
These exerements contain no bile and no soda; for 
water extracts from them no trace of any substance 
resembling bile, and yet bile is very soluble in 
water, and mixes with it in every proportion. 
Physiologists can entertain no doubt as to the 
origin of the constituent parts of the urine and of 
the bile. When, from deprivation of food, the 
stomach contracts itself so as to resemble a portion 
of intestine, the gall-bladder, for want of the motion 
which the full stomach gives to it, cannot pour out 
the bile it contains; hence in animals starved to 
death we find the gall-bladder distended and full. 
The secretion of bile and of urine goes on during 
the winter sleep of hybernating animals; and we 
know that the urine of dogs, fed for three weeks 
exclusively on pure sugar, contains as much of the 


62 USES OF THE URINE, 


most highly nitrogenised constituent, urea, as in the 
normal condition. (Marchaud. Erdmaun’s Journal 
fiir praktische Chemie, XIV. p. 495.) 

Differences in the quantity of urea secreted in 
these and similar experiments are explained by the 
condition of the animal in regard to the amount 
of the natural motions permitted. Every motion 
increases the amount of organised tissue which 
undergoes metamorphosis. Thus, after a walk, the 
secretion of urine in man is invariably increased. 

The urine of the mammalia, of birds, and of 
amphibia, contains uric acid or urea; and the ex- 
erements of the mollusea, and of insects, as of can- 
tharides and of the butterfly of the silkworm, con- 
tain urate of ammonia. This constant occurrence of 
one or two nitrogenised compounds in the excre- 
tions of animals, while so great a difference exists 
in their food, clearly proves that these compounds 
proceed from one and the same source. 

As little doubt can be entertained in regard to 
the function of the bile in the vital process. When 
we consider, that the acetate of potash, given in 
enema, or simply as a bath for the feet, renders the 
urine strongly alkaline (Rehberger in Tiedemann’s 
Zeitschrift fiir Physiologie, II. 149), and that the 
change which the acetic acid here undergoes cannot 
be conceived without tle addition of oxygen, it is 
obvious, that the soluble constituents of the bile, 
prone to change in a high degree as we know them 
to be, and which, as already stated, cannot be em- 


AND OF THE BILE. 63 


ployed in the production of blood, must, when re- 
turned through the intestines into the circulation, in 
like manner yield to the influence of the oxygen 
which they meet. The bile is a compound of soda, 
the elements of which, with the exception of the 
soda, disappear in the body of a carnivorous animal. 

In the opinion of many of the most distinguished 
physiologists, the bile is intended solely to be ex- 
ereted ; and nothing is more certain, than that a 
substance containing so very small a proportion of 
nitrogen can have no share in the process of nutri- 
tion or reproduction of organised tissue. But 
quantitative physiology must at once and decidedly 
reject the opinion, that the bile serves no purpose 
in the economy, and is incapable of further change. 

No part of any organised structure contains soda ; 
only in the serum of the blood, in the fat of the 
brain, and in the bile, do we meet with that alkali. 
When the compounds of.soda in the blood are con- 
verted into muscular fibre, membrane, or cellular 
tissue, the soda they contain must enter into new 
combinations. The blood which is transformed into 
organised tissue gives up its soda to the compounds 
formed by the metamorphoses of the previously 
existing tissues. In the bile we find one of these 
compounds of soda. 

Were the bile intended merely for excretion, we 
should find it, more or less altered, and also the 
soda it contains, in the solid excrements. But, 
with the exception of common salt, and of sulphate 


64. AMOUNT OF BILE SECRETED. 


of soda, which occur in all the animal fluids, only 
mere traces of soda are to be found in the feces. 
The soda of the bile, therefore, at all events, must 
have returned from the intestinal canal into the 
organism, and the same must be true of the organic 
matters which were in combination with it. 

According to the observations of physiologists, a 
man secretes daily from 17 to 24 oz. of bile; a 
large dog, 36 oz. ; a horse, 37 Ibs. (Burdach’s Phy- 
siologie, V. p. 260.) But the feces of a man do 
not on an average weigh more than 54 oz.; and 
those of a horse 283 lbs., of which 21 lbs. are water, 
and 74 lbs. dry feces. (Boussingault.) The latter 
yield to alcohol only sth part of their weight of 
soluble matter. 

If we assume the bile to contain 90 per cent. of 
water, a horse secretes daily 592 oz. of bile, con- 
taining 59:2 oz. of solid matter; while 7glbs. or 
120 oz. of dried excrement yield only 60z. of mat- 
ter soluble in alcohol, which might possibly be 
bile. But this matter is not bile; when the alco- 
hol is dissipated by evaporation, there remains a 
soft, unctuous mass, altogether insoluble in water, 
and which, when incinerated, leaves no alkaline 
ashes, no soda. (10) 

During the digestive process, therefore, the soda 
of the bile, and, along with it, all the soluble parts 
of that fluid, are returned into the circulation. This 
soda re-appears in the newly-formed blood, and, 
finally, we find it in the urine in the form of phos- 


~ 


IN MAN AND ANIMALS. © 65 


phate, carbonate, and hippurate of soda. Berzelius 
found in 1,000 parts of fresh human feces only nine 
parts of a substance similar to bile ; 5 ounces, there- 
fore, would contain only 21 grains of dried bile, 
equivalent to 210 grains of fresh bile. But aman se- 
cretes daily from 9,640 to 11,520 grains of fluid bile, 
that is, from 45 to 56 times as much as can be detect- 
ed in the matters discharged by the intestinal canal. 

Whatever opinion we may entertain of the accu- 
racy of the physiological experiments, in regard to 
the quantity of bile secreted by the different classes 
of animals; thus much is certain, that even the max- 
imum of the supposed secretion, in man and in the 
horse, does not contain as much carbon as is given 
out in respiration. With all the fat which is mixed 
with it, or enters into its composition, dried bile 
does not contain more than 69 per cent. of carbon. 
Consequently, if a horse secretes 37 lbs. of bile, this 
quantity will contain only 40 ounces of carbon. 
But the horse expires daily nearly twice as much in 
the form of carbonic acid. A precisely similar pro- 
portion holds good in man. 

Along with the matter destined for the formation 
or reproduction of organs, the circulation conveys 
oxygen to all parts of the body. Now, into what- 
ever combination the oxygen may enter in the 
blood, it must be held as certain, that such of the 
constituents of blood as are employed for reproduc- 
tion, are not materially altered by it. In muscular 
fibre we find fibrine, with all the properties it had 

F 


66 THE CARBON OF THE FOOD 


in venous blood; the albumen in the blood does not 
combine with oxygen. The oxygen may possibly 
serve to convert into the gaseous state some unknown 
constituent of the blood; but those well-known 
constituents, which are employed in reproduction, 
cannot be destined to support the respiratory process; 
none of their properties can justify such an opinion. 

Without attempting in this place to exhaust the 
whole question of the share taken by the bile in the 
vital operations, it follows, as has been observed, 
from the simple comparison of those parts of the 
food of the carnivora which are capable of assimila- 
tion, with the ultimate products into which it is con- 
verted, that all the carbon of the food, except that 
portion which is found in the urine, is given out as 
carbonic acid. 

But this carbon was ultimately derived from the 
substance of the metamorphosed tissues; and this 
being admitted, the question of the necessity of sub- 
stances containing much carbon and no nitrogen in 
the food of the young of the carnivora, and in that 
of the graminivora, is resolved in a strikingly simple 
manner. 


XII. It cannot be disputed, that in an adult carni- 
vorous animal, which neither gains nor loses weight, 
perceptibly, from day to day, its nourishment, the 
waste of organised tissue, and its consumption of 
oxygen, stand to each other in a well-defined and 
fixed relation. 


SUPPORTS RESPIRATION. 67 


The earbon of the carbonic acid given off, with 
that of the urine; the nitrogen of the urine, and the 
hydrogen given off as ammonia and water; these 
elements, taken together, must be exactly equal in 
weight to the carbon, nitrogen, and hydrogen of the 
metamorphosed tissues, and since these last are ex- 
actly replaced by the food, to the carbon, nitrogen, 
and hydrogen of the food. Were this not the case, 
the weight of the animal could not possibly remain 
unchanged. 

But, in the young of the carnivora, the weight 
does not remain unchanged; on the contrary, it in- 
creases from day to day by an appreciable quantity. 

This fact presupposes, that the assimilative pro- 
cess in the young animal is more energetic, more 
intense, than the process of transformation in the 
existing tissues. If both processes were equally ac- 
tive, the weight of the body could not increase ; 
and were the waste by transformation greater, the 
weight of the body would decrease. 

Now, the circulation in the young animal is not 
weaker, but, on the contrary, more rapid; the res- 
pirations are more frequent; and, for equal bulks, the 
consumption of oxygen must be greater rather than 
smaller in the young than in the adult animal. 
But, since the metamorphosis of organised parts 
goes on more slowly, there would ensue a deficiency 
of those substances, the carbon and hydrogen of 
which are adapted for combination with oxygen ; 
beeause, in the carnivora it is the new compounds, 


F 9 


68 BUTTER, SUGAR, STARCH, &c. 


produced by the metamorphosis of organised parts, 
which nature has destined to furnish the necessary 
resistance to the action of the oxygen, and to pro- 
duce animal heat. What is wanting for these pur- 
poses an infinite wisdom has supplied to the young 
animal in its natural food. 

The carbon and hydrogen of butter, and the car- 
bon of the sugar of milk, no part of either of which 
can yield blood, fibrine, or albumen, are destined 
for the support of the respiratory process, at an age 
when a greater resistance is opposed to the meta- 
morphosis of existing organisms ; or, in other words, 
to the production of compounds, which in the adult 
state are produced in quantity amply sufficient for 
the purpose of respiration. 

The young animal receives the constituents of its 
blood in the caseine of the milk. A metamorphosis 
of existing organs goes on, for bile and urine are 
secreted ; the matter of the metamorphosed parts is 
given off in the form of urine, of carbonic acid, and 
of water; but the butter and sugar of milk also 
disappear; they cannot be detected in the fieces. 

The butter and sugar of milk are given out in the 
form of carbonic acid and water, and their conver- 
sion into oxidised products furnishes the clearest 
proof that far more oxygen is absorbed than is re- 
quired to convert the carbon and hydrogen of the 
metamorphosed tissues into carbonic acid and water. 

The change and metamorphosis of organised tis- 
sues going on in the vital process in the young 


CONSUMED IN RESPIRATION. 69 


animal, consequently yield, in a given time, much 
less carbon and hydrogen in the form adapted for 
the respiratory process than corresponds to the 
oxygen taken up in the lungs. The substance of 
its organised parts would undergo a more rapid con- 
sumption, and would necessarily yield to the action 
of the oxygen, were not the deficiency of carbon 
and hydrogen supplied from another source. 

The continued increase of mass, or growth, and 
the free and unimpeded developement of the organs 
in the young animal, are dependent on the presence 
of foreign substances, which, in the nutritive pro- 
cess, have no other function than to protect the 
newly-formed organs from the action of the oxygen. 
It is the elements of these substances which unite 
with the oxygen; the organs themselves could not 
do so without being consumed; that is, growth, or in- 
crease of mass in the body, the consumption of oxy- 
gen remaining the same, would be utterly impossible. 

The preceding considerations leave no doubt as 
to the purpose for which Nature has added to the 
food of the young of carnivorous mammalia sub- 
stances devoid of nitrogen, which their organism 
cannot employ for nutrition, strictly so called, that 
is, for the production of blood; substances which 
may be entirely dispensed with in their nourishment 
in the adult state. In the young of carnivorous 
birds, the want of all motion is an obvious cause of 
diminished waste in the organised parts; hence, 
milk is not provided for them. 


70 PROPERTIES OF STARCH. 


The nutritive process in the carnivora thus pre- 
sents itself in two distinct forms; one of which we 
again meet with in the graminivora. 


XIII. In the class of graminivorous animals, we 
observe, that during their whole life, their existence 
depends on the supply of substances having a com- 
position identical with that of sugar of milk, or 
closely resembling it. Every thing that they con- 
sume‘as food contains a certain quantity of starch, 
or gum, or sugar, mixed with other matters. 

The most abundant and widely-extended of the 
substances of this class is amylon or starch; it 
occurs in roots, seeds, and stalks, and even in wood, 
deposited in the form of roundish or oval globules, 
which differ from each other in size alone, being 
identical in chemical composition. (11) In the same 
plant, in the pea, for example, we find starch, the 
globules of which differ in size. Those in the 
expressed juice of the stalks have a diameter of 
from sds to x45 of an inch, while those in the seed 
are three or four times larger. The globules in 
arrow-root and in potato starch are distinguished 
by their large size; those of rice and of wheat are 
remarkably small. 

It is well known that starch may be converted 
into sugar by very different means. This change 
occurs in the process of germination, as in malting, 
and it is easily accomplished by the action of acids. 
The metamorphosis of starch into sugar depends 


EASILY CONVERTED INTO SUGAR. 71 


simply, as is proved by analysis, on the addition of the 
elements of water. (12) All the carbon of the starch 
is found in the sugar ; none of its elements have been 
separated, and, except the elements of water, no 
foreign element has been added to it in this trans- 
formation. 

In many, especially in pulpy fruits, which when 
unripe are sour and rough to the taste, but when 
ripe are sweet, as, for example, in apples and pears, 
the sugar is produced from the starch which the un- 
ripe fruit contains. 

If we rub unripe apples or pears on a grater to a 
pulp, and wash this with cold water on a fine sieve, 
the turbid liquid which passes through deposits a 
very fine flour of starch, of which not even a trace 
can be detected in the ripe fruit. Many varieties 
become sweet while yet on the tree; these are the 
summer or early apples and pears. Others, again, 
become sweet only after having been kept for a cer- 
tain period after gathering. The after-ripening, as 
this change is called, is a purely chemical process, 
entirely independent of the vitality of the plant. 
When vegetation ceases, the fruit is capable of re- 
producing the species, that is, the kernel, stone, or 
true seed is fully ripe, but the fleshy covering from 
this period is subjected to the action of the atmo- 
sphere. Like all substances in a state of erema- 
causis, or decay, it absorbs oxygen, and gives off a 
certain quantity of carbonic acid gas. 

In the same way as the starch in putrefying paste, 


Vip? SUGAR OF MILK, GUM, &c. 


in which it is in contact with decaying gluten, is con- 
verted into sugar, the starch in the above-named 
fruits, in a state of decay, or eremacausis, is trans- 
formed into grape sugar. The more starch the un- 
ripe fruit contains, the sweeter does it become when 
ripe. 

A close connection thus exists between sugar and 
starch. By means of a variety of chemical actions, 
which exert no other influence on the elements of 
starch than that of changing the direction of their 
mutual attraction, we can convert starch into sugar, 
but it is always grape sugar. 

Sugar of milk in many respects resembles 
starch ; (13) it is, by itself, incapable of the vinous 
fermentation, but it acquires the property of resoly- 
ing itself into alcohol and carbonic acid when it is 
exposed to heat in contact with a substance in the 
state of fermentation (such as putrefying cheese 
in milk). In this case, it is first converted into 
grape sugar; and it undergoes the same _ transfor- 
mation, when it is kept in contact with acids— 
with sulphuric acid, for example—at the ordinary 
temperature. | 

Gum has the same composition in 100 parts as 
cane sugar.(14) It is distinguished from the different 
varieties of sugar by its not possessing the property 
of being resolved into aleohol and carbonic acid by 
the process of putrefaction. When placed in con- 
tact with fermenting substances, it undergoes no 
appreciable change, whence we may conclude, with 


COMPARED WITH STARCH. 73 


some degree of probability, that its elements, in 
the peculiar arrangement according to which they 
are united, are held together with a stronger force 
than the elements of the different kinds of sugar. 

There is, however, a certain relation between 
gum and sugar of milk, since both of them, when 
treated with nitric acid, yield the same oxidised pro- 
duct, namely, mucic acid, which cannot, under the 
same circumstances, be formed from any of the other 
kinds of sugar. 

In order to shew more distinctly the similarity of 
composition in these different substances, which per- 
form so important a part in the nutritive process of 
the graminivora, let us represent one equivalent of 
carbon by C (= 75:8), and one equivalent of water 
by aqua (= 112°4), we shall then have for the com- 
position of these substances the following expres- 


sions :— 
Starch. ides = 12 C+10 aqua. 
Cane Sugar... = 12 C+10 aqua+1 aqua. 
Gumi = 220... = 12 C+10 aqua+1 aqua. 


Sugar of milk = 12 C+10 aqua+2 aqua. 
Grape Sugar = 12 C+10 aqua+4 aqua. 


For the same number of equivalents of carbon, 
starch contains 10 equivalents, cane-sugar and gum 
11 equivalents, sugar of milk 12 equivalents, and 
grape-sugar 14 equivalents, of water, or the ele- 
ments of water. 


74 GRAMINIVORA REQUIRE 


XIV. In these different substances, some one of 
which is never wanting in the food of the gramni- 
vora, there is added to the nitrogenised constituents 
of this food, to the vegetable albumen, fibrine, and 
caseine, from which their blood is formed, strictly 
speaking, only a certain excess of carbon, which the 
animal organism cannot possibly employ to produce 
fibrine or albumen, because the nitrogenised consti- 
tuents of the food already contain the carbon neces- 
sary for the production of blood, and because the 
blood in the body of the carnivora is formed without 
the aid of this excess of carbon. 

The function performed in the vital process of 
the graminivora by these substances (sugar, gum, 
&c.) is indicated in a very clear and convincing 
manner, when we take into consideration the very 
small relative amount of the carbon which these 
animals consume in the nitrogenised constituents of 
their food, which bears no proportion whatever to 
the oxygen absorbed through the skin and lungs. 

A horse, for example, can be kept in perfectly 
good condition, if he obtain as food 15 Ibs. of hay 
and 43 lbs. of oats, daily. If we now calculate the 
whole amount of nitrogen in these matters, as ascer- 
tained by analysis (1°5 per cent. in the hay, 2°2 per 
cent. in the oats), (15) in the form of blood, that is, as 
fibrine and albumen, with the due proportion of water 
in blood (80 per cent.), the horse receives daily no 
more than 43 oz. of nitrogen, corresponding to about 
8 lbs. of blood. But along with this nitrogen, that is, 


MUCH CARBON. 65, 


combined with it in the form of fibrine or albumen, 
the animal receives only about 143 oz. of carbon. 
Only about 8 oz. of this can be employed to support 
respiration, for with the nitrogen expelled in the 
urine there are combined, in the form of urea, 3 0z., 
and in the form of hippuric acid, 35 0z., of carbon. 

Without going further into the calculation, it will 
readily be admitted, that the volume of air inspired 
and expired by a horse, the quantity of oxygen con- 
sumed, and, as a necessary consequence, the amount 
of carbonic acid given out by the animal, is much 
greater than in the respiratory process in man. But 
an adult man consumes daily about 14 oz. of carbon, 
and the determination of Boussingault, according to 
which a horse expires 79 oz. daily, cannot be very 
far from the truth. 

In the nitrogenised constituents of his food, there- 
fore, the horse receives rather less than the fifth part 
of the carbon which his organism requires for the 
support of the respiratory process; and we see that 
the wisdom of the Creator has added to his food 
the 4ths which are wanting, in various forms, as, 
starch, sugar, &c. with which the animal must be 
supplied, or his organism will be destroyed by the 
action of the oxygen. 

It is obvious, that in the system of the gramini- 
vora, whose food contains so small a proportion, re- 
latively, of the constituents of blood, the process of 
metamorphosis in existing tissues, and consequently 
their restoration or reproduction, must go on far less 


76 WASTE OF ORGANISED TISSUES 


rapidly than in the carnivora. Were this not the 
case, a vegetation a thousand times more luxuriant 
than the actual one would not suffice for their 
nourishment. Sugar, gum, and starch, would no 
longer be necessary to support life in these animals, 
because, in that case, the products of the waste, or 
metamorphosis of the organised tissues, would con- 
tain enough of carbon to support the respiratory 
process. 

Man, when confined to animal food, requires for 
his support and nourishment extensive sources of 
food, even more widely extended than the lion and 
tiger, because, when he has the opportunity, he kills 
without eating. 

A nation of hunters, on a limited space, is utterly 
incapable of increasing its numbers beyond a certain 
point, which is soon attained. The carbon neces- 
sary for respiration must be obtained from the ani- 
mals, of which only a limited number can live on 
the space supposed. These animals collect from 
plants the constituents of their organs and of their 
blood, and yield them, in turn, to the savages who 
live by the chase alone. They, again, receive this 
food unaccompanied by those compounds, destitute 
of nitrogen, which, during the life of the animals, 
served to support the respiratory process. In such 
men, confined to an animal diet, it is the carbon of 
the flesh and of the blood which must take the place 
of starch and sugar. 

But 15 Ibs. of flesh contain not more carbon than 


VERY RAPID IN CARNIVORA. va 


4 lbs. of starch, (16) and while the savage with one ani- 
mal and an equal weight of starch could maintain life 
and health for a certain number of days, he would 
be compelled, if confined to flesh, in order to pro- 
cure the carbon necessary for respiration, during the 
same time, to consume five such animals. 

It is easy to see, from these considerations, how 
close the connection is between agriculture and the 
multiplication of the human species. The cultivation 
of our crops has ultimately no other object than the 
production of a maximum of those substances which 
are adapted for assimilation and respiration, in the 
smallest possible space. Grain and other nutritious 
vegetables yield us, not only in starch, sugar, and 
gum, the carbon which protects our organs from the 
action of oxygen, and produces in the organism the 
heat which is essential to life, but also in the form 
of vegetable fibrine, albumen, and caseine, our 
blood, from which the other parts of our body are 
developed. 

Man, when confined to animal food, respires, like 
the carnivora, at the expense of the matters pro- 
duced by the metamorphosis of organised tissues ; 
and, just as the lion, tiger, hyena, in the cages of a 
menagerie, are compelled to accelerate the waste of 
the organised tissues by incessant motion, in order to 
furnish the matter necessary for respiration, so, the 
savage, for the very same object, is forced to make 
the most laborious exertions, and go through a vast 
amount of muscular exercise. He is compelled to 


78 PHOSPHATES ABOUND IN 


consume force merely in order to supply matter for 
respiration. 

Cultivation is the economy of force. Science 
teaches us the simplest means of obtaining the. 
greatest effect with the smallest expenditure of 
power, and with given means to produce a maxi- 
mum of force. The unprofitable exertion of power, 
the waste of force in agriculture, in other branches 
of industry, in science, or in social economy, is 
characteristic of the savage state, or of the want of 
cultivation. 


XV. A comparison of the urine of the carnivora 
with that of the graminivora shews very clearly, that 
the process of metamorphosis in the tissues is differ- 
ent, both in form and in rapidity, in the two classes 
of animals. 

The urine of carnivorous animals is acid, and 
contains alkaline bases united with uric, phosphoric, 
and sulphuric acids. We know perfectly the source 
of the two latter acids. All the tissues, with the 
exception of cellular tissue and membrane, contain 
phosphorie acid and sulphur, which latter element 
is converted into sulphuric acid by the oxygen of 
the arterial blood. In the various fluids of the 
body there are only traces of phosphates or sul- 
phates, except in the urine, where both are found 
in abundance. It is plain that they are derived 
from the metamorphosed tissues; they enter into 
the venous blood in the form of soluble salts, and 


THE URINE OF CARNIVORA. 79 


are separated from it in its passage through the 
kidneys. 

The urine of the graminivora is alkaline ; it con- 
tains alkaline carbonates in abundance, and so small 
a portion of alkaline phosphates as to have been 
overlooked by most observers. 

The deficiency or absence of alkaline phosphates 
in the urine of the graminivora, obviously indicates 
the slowness with which the tissues in this class of 
animals are metamorphosed ; for if we assume that 
a horse consumes a quantity of vegetable fibrine 
and albumen corresponding to the amount of nitro- 
gen in his daily food (about 44 oz.), and that the 
quantity of tissue metamorphosed is equal to that 
newly formed, then the quantity of phosphoric acid 
which on these suppositions would exist in the urine 
is not so small as not to be easily detected by 
analysis in the daily secretion of urine (3 Ibs. accord- 
ing to Boussingault) ; for it would amount to 0:8 per 
cent. But, as above stated, most observers have 
been unable to detect phosphoric acid in the urine 
of the horse. | 

Hence it is obvious, that the phosphoric acid, 
which in consequence of the metamorphosis of 
tissues is produced in the form of soluble alkaline 
phosphates, must re-enter the circulation in this class 
of animals. It is there employed in forming brain 
and nervous matter, to which it is essential, and also, 
no doubt, in contributing to the supply of the earthy 


part of the bones. It is probable, however, that 
* 


SO. ASSIMILATION IN CARNIVORA. 


the greater part of the earth of bones is obtained by 
the direct assimilation of phosphate of lime, while 
the soluble phosphates are better adapted for the 
production of nervous matter. 

In the graminivora, therefore, whose food con- 
tains so small a proportion of phosphorus or of 
phosphates, the organism collects .all the soluble 
phosphates produced by the metamorphosis of tis- 
sues, and employs them for the developement of the 
bones and of the phosphorised constituents of the 
brain; the organs of excretion do not separate these 
salts from the blood. The phosphoric acid which, 
by the change of matter, is separated in the uncom- 
bined state, is not expelled from the body as phos- 
phate of soda; but we find it in the solid excre- 
ments in the form of insoluble earthy phosphates. 


XVI. If we now compare the capacity for in- 
crease of mass, the assimilative power in the grami- 
nivora and ecarnivora, the commonest observations 
indicate a very marked difference. 

A spider, which sucks with extreme voracity the 
blood of the first fly, is not disturbed or excited by 
a second or third. A cat will eat the first, and per- 
haps the second mouse presented to her, but even 
if she kills a third, she does not devour it. Exactly 
similar observations have been made in regard to 
lions and tigers, which only devour their prey when 
urged by hunger. Carnivorous animals, indeed, re- 
quire less food for their mere support, because their 


LESS ENERGETIC THAN IN HERBIVORA. 81 


skin is destitute of perspiratory pores, and because 
they consequently lose, for equal bulks, much less 
heat than graminivorous animals, which are com- 
pelled to restore the lost heat by means of food 
adapted for respiration. 

How different is the energy and intensity of 
vegetative life in the graminivora. A cow, or a 
sheep, in the meadow, eats, almost without interrup- 
tion, as long as the sun is above the horizon. Their 
system possesses the power of converting into or- 
ganised tissues all the food they devour beyond the 
quantity required for merely supplying the waste of 
their bodies. 

All the excess of blood produced is converted 
into cellular and muscular tissue; the graminivorous 
animal becomes fleshy and plump, while the flesh 
of the carnivorous animal is always tough and 
sinewy. 

If we consider the case of a stag, a roe-deer, 
or a hare, animals which consume the same food as 
cattle and sheep, it is evident that, when well sup- 
plied with food, their growth in size, their fattening, 
must depend on the quantity of vegetable albumen, 
fibrine, or caseine, which they consume. With free 
and unimpeded motion and exercise, enough of 
oxygen is absorbed to consume the carbon of the 
gum, sugar, starch, and of all similar soluble consti- 
tuents of their food. 

But all this is very differently arranged in our 
domestic animals, when, with ‘an abundant supply 

G 


82 ORIGIN OF FAT IN 


of food, we check the processes of cooling and ex- 
halation, as we do when we feed them in stables, 
where free motion is impossible. 

The stall-fed animal eats, and reposes merely for 
digestion. It devours in the shape of nitrogenised 
compounds far more food than is required for repro- 
duction, or the supply of waste alone; and at the 
same time it eats far more of substances devoid of 
nitrogen than is necessary merely to support res- 
piration and to keep up animal heat. Want of 
exercise and diminished cooling are equivalent to a 
deficient supply of oxygen; for when these cireum- 
stances occur, the animal absorbs much less oxygen 
than is required to convert into carbonic acid the 
carbon of the substances destined for respiration. 
Only a small part of the excess of carbon thus occa- 
sioned is expelled from the body in the horse and 
ox, in the form of hippuric acid ; and all the remain- 
der is employed in the production of a substance 
which, in the normal state, only occurs in small 
quantity as a constituent of the nerves and brain. 
This substance is fat. 

In the normal condition, as to exercise and labour, 
the urine of the horse and ox centains benzoic acid 
(with 14 equivalents of carbon); but as soon as the 
animal is kept quiet in the stable, the urine contains 
hippuric acid (with 18 equivalents of carbon). 

The flesh of wild animals is devoid of fat; while 
that of stall-fed animals is covered with that sub- 
stance. When the fattened animal is allowed to 


DOMESTICATED ANIMALS. 83 


move more freely in the air, or compelled to draw 
heavy burdens, the fat again disappears. 

It is evident, therefore, that the formation of fat 
in the animal body is the result of a want of due 
proportion between the food taken into the stomach 
and the oxygen absorbed by the lungs and the skin. 

A pig, when fed with highly nitrogenised food, 
becomes full of flesh; when fed with potatoes 
(starch) it acquires little flesh, but a thick layer of 
fat. The milk of a cow, when stall-fed, is very rich 
in butter, but in the meadow is found to contain 
more caseine, and in the same proportion less butter 
and sugar of milk. In the human female, beer and 
farinaceous diet increase the proportion of butter 
in the milk; an animal diet yields /less milk, but it 
is richer in caseine. 

If we reflect, that in the entire class of carnivora, 
the food of which contains no substance devoid of 
nitrogen except fat, the production of fat in the body 
is utterly insignificant; that even in these animals, 
as in dogs and cats, it increases as soon as they live 
on amixed diet; and that we can increase the forma- 
tion of fat in other domestic animals at pleasure, but 
only by means of food containing no nitrogen; we 
can hardly entertain a doubt that such food, in its 
various forms of starch, sugar, &c., is closely con- 
nected with the production of fat. 

In the natural course of scientific research, we 
draw conclusions from the food in regard to the 
tissues or substances formed from it; from the ni- 

G2 


84 ORIGIN OF FAT IN 


trogenised constituents of plants we draw certain 
inferences as to the nitrogenised constituents of the 
blood ; and it is quite in accordance with this, the 
natural method, that we should seek to establish the 
relations of those parts of our food which are devoid 
of nitrogen and those parts of the body which con- 
tain none of that element. It is impossible to over- 
look the very intimate connection between them. | 

If we compare the composition of sugar of milk, 
of starch, and of the other varieties of sugar, with 
that of mutton and beef suet and of human fat, we 
find that in all of them the proportion of carbon to 
hydrogen is the same, and that they only differ in 
that of oxygen. 

According to the analyses of Chevreul, mutton 
fat, human fat, and hog’s lard contain 79 per cent. 
of carbon to 11:1, 11:4, and 11-7 per cent. of hy- 
drogen respectively. (16) 


Starch contains 44°91 carbon to 6°11 hydrogen 
Gum and sugar 42°58 to 6°37. ditto. (17) 


It is obvious that these numbers, representing 
the relative proportions of carbon and hydrogen in 
starch, gum, and sugar, are in the same ratio as the 
carbon and hydrogen in the different kinds of fat ; for 

44:91 : 611 = 79 : 10:99 

42°58 : 6:37 = 79 : 11°80 
From which it follows, that sugar, starch, and gum, 
by the mere separation of a part of their oxygen, 
may pass into fat, or at least into a substance having 
exactly the composition of fat. If from the formula 


DOMESTICATED ANIMALS. 85 


of starch, C,,H,,O,,, we take 9 equivalents of oxy- 
gen, there will remain in 100 parts— 


Che RI sete ao meaksiedeved anes 79°4 
Big eee © Sol aa ond pt nik Bia meh 10°8 
GE Sis eB ne Oe Te 9°8 


The empirical formula of fat which comes nearest 
to this is C,,H,,O, which gives in 100 parts— 


Gory Gx bade sie de sae ee Eb bee « AER aRe Dae 78°9 
Bip) ae st Reavis based ees 11°6 
yi Wks Sows ti debacatoncnctdecs 9.5 


According to this formula, an equivalent of 
starch, in order to be changed into fat, would lose 1 
equivalent of carbonic acid, CO,, and 7 equivalents 
of oxygen. 

Now the composition of all saponifiable fatty 
bodies agrees very closely with one or other of 
these two formule. 

If from 3 equivalents of sugar of milk, 3C,,H,,0,, 
= C,,H,,0,,, we take away four equivalents of wa- 
ter and 31 of oxygen, there will remain C,,H,,O, a 
formula which accurately represents the composition 
of cholesterine, the fat of bile. (18) 

Whatever views we may entertain regarding the 
origin of the fatty constituents of the body, this 
much at least is undeniable, that the herbs and roots 
consumed by the cow contain no butter; that in 
hay or the other fodder of oxen no beef suet exists 5 
that no hog’s lard can be found in the potato refuse 
given to swine; and that the food of geese or fowls 
contains no goose fat or capon fat. The masses of 


86 THE FORMATION OF FAT 


fat found in the bodies of these animals are formed 
in their organism; and when the full value of this 
fact is recognized, it entitles us to conclude that a 
certain quantity of oxygen, in some form or other, 
separates from the constituents of their food; for 
without such a separation of oxygen, no fat could 
possibly be formed from any one of these sub- 
stances. 

The chemical analysis of the constituents of the 
food of the graminivora shews in the clearest man- 
ner that they contain carbon and oxygen in certain 
proportions ; which, when reduced to equivalents, 
yield the following series :-— 


In vegetable fibrine, albumen, and caseine, there are con- 


fAINGES FOP. . ccc ocdenee ce eeses 120 eq. carbon, 36 eq. oxygen 
Way Stare 222.325. .isenta ceo vent< 120) tcacas went 100 
aeane, SUPAL | oo. s<c nese ce sess JAD BARE Se eaBee 110 
MRR ore ose ea aie ate ie cis vice ass 120 ...r.vsedsa3 110 
Insugar of milk <. £4). cesse02.. 120 22.2 iste: 120 
Fa BTAPe SUPA 2.2 0on cee e ede cuss E20 reece sees 140 
Now in all fatty bodies there are contained, on an 
average— 
1h Rade Boneoce econo soccer © 120 eq.carb.only 10 eq. oxygen. 


Since the carbon of the fatty constituents of the 
animal body is derived from the food, seeing that 
there is no other source whence it can be derived, 
it is obvious, if we suppose fat to be formed from 
albumen, fibrine, or caseine, that, for every 120 equi- 
valents of carbon deposited as fat, 26 equivalents of 
oxygen must be separated from the elements of these 
substances; and further, if we conceive fat to be 


IS A SOURCE OF OXYGEN. 87 


formed from starch, sugar, or sugar of milk, that for 
the same amount of carbon there must be separated 
90, 100, and 110 equivalents of oxygen from these 
compounds respectively. 

There is, therefore, but one way in which the 
formation of fat in the animal body is possible, and 
this is absolutely the same in which its formation in 
plants takes place ; it is a separation of oxygen from 
the elements of the food. 

The carbon which we find deposited in the seeds 
and fruits of vegetables, in the form of oil and fat, 
was previously a constituent of the atmosphere, and 
was absorbed by the plant as carbonic acid. Its 
conversion into fat was accomplished under the in- 
fluence of light, by the vital force of the vegetable ; 
and the greater part of the oxygen of this carbonic 
acid was returned to the atmosphere as oxygen 
gas.* 

In contradistinction to this phenomenon of vitality 
in plants, we know that the animal system absorbs 
oxygen from the atmosphere, and that this oxygen 
is again given out in combination with carbon or 
hydrogen ; we know, that in the formation of car- 
bonic acid and water, the heat necessary to sustain 
the constant temperature of the body is produced, 
and that a process of oxidation is the only source of 
animal heat. 

Whether fat be formed by the decomposition of 


* See Appendix, No. 19, on the formation of wax and honey 
by the bee. 


88 FAT IS FORMED WHEN THE 


fibrine and albumen, the chief constituents of blood, 
or by that of starch, sugar, or gum, this decomposi- 
tion must be accompanied by the separation of oxy- 
gen from the elements of these compounds. But 
this oxygen is not given out in the free state, be- 
cause it meets in the organism with substances 
possessing the property of entering into combination 
with it. In fact, it is given out in the same forms 
as that which is absorbed from the atmosphere by 
the skin and lungs. 

It is easy to see, from the above considerations, 
that a very remarkable connection exists between 
the formation of fat and the respiratory process. 


XVIII. The abnormal condition, which causes 
the deposit of fat in the animal body, depends, as 
was formerly stated, on a disproportion between the 
quantity of carbon in the food and that of oxygen 
absorbed by the skin and lungs. In the normal 
condition, the quantity of carbon given out is ex- 
actly equal to that which is taken in the food, and 
the body acquires no increase of weight from the 
accumulation of substances containing much carbon 
and no nitrogen. 

If we increase the supply of highly carbonised 
food, then the normal state can only be preserved 
on the condition that, by exercise and labour, the 
waste of the body is increased, and the supply of 
oxygen augmented in the same proportion. 

The production of fat is always a consequence of 


OXYGEN IS DEFICIENT. 89 


a deficient supply of oxygen, for oxygen is abso- 
lutely indispensable for the dissipation of the excess 
of carbon in the food. This excess of carbon, de- 
posited in the form of fat, is never seen in the 
Bedouin or in the Arab of the desert, who exhibits 
with pride to the traveller his lean, muscular, sinewy 
limbs, altogether free from fat ; but in prisons and 
jails it appears as a puffiness in the inmates, fed, as 
they are, on a poor and scanty diet; it appears in 
the sedentary females of oriental countries; and 
finally, it is produced under the well-known condi- 
tions of the fattening of domestic animals. 

The formation of fat depends on a deficiency of 
oxygen; but in this process, in the formation of fat 
itself, there is opened up a new source of oxygen, a 
new cause of animal heat. 

The oxygen set free in the formation of fat is 
given out in combination with carbon or hydrogen ; 
and whether this carbon and hydrogen proceed from 
the substance that yields the oxygen, or from other 
compounds, still there must have been generated by 
this formation of carbonic acid or water as much 
heat as if an equal weight of carbon or hydrogen 
had been burned in air or in oxygen gas. 

If we suppose that from 2 equivalents of starch 
18 equivalents of oxygen are disengaged, and that 
these 18 equivalents of oxygen combine with 9 
equivalents of carbon, from the bile, for example, 
no one can doubt that, in this case, exactly as much 
heat must be developed, as if these 9 equivalents of 


90 THE FORMATION OF FAT IS 


carbon had been directly burned. In this form, 
therefore, the disengagement of heat as a conse- 
quence of the formation of fat would be undeni- 
able; and it could only be considered hypothetical, 
on the supposition that carbon and oxygen were 
disengaged from one and the same substance, in the 
proportions to yield carbonic acid. 

If, for example, we suppose that from 2 atoms 
of starch, C,,H,,O.,, the elements of 9 equivalents 
of carbonic acid are separated, there will remain a 
compound containing, for 15 equivalents of carbon, 
20 of hydrogen and 2 of oxygen; for 

C,H Ox» = COs  CysH29O2. 
Or, if we assume that oxygen is separated from 
starch in the form both of carbonic acid and water, 
then, after subtracting the elements of 6 equivalents 
of water and 6 of carbonic acid, there would remain 
the compound C,,H,,O,; for 
C24H O02 = C,O.. + H,Og + CisHy,O2. 

Assuming, then, the separation of oxygen In either 
of these forms, it remains to be decided whether the 
carbonic acid and water given off were contained, as 
such, in the starch, or not. 

If they were ready formed in the starch, the 
separation might occur without the disengagement 
of heat; but if the carbon and hydrogen were pre- 
sent in any other form in the starch (or in the com- 
pound from which the fat was produced), it is obvious 
that a change in the arrangement of the atoms must 
have occurred, in consequence of which the atoms 


A SOURCE OF ANIMAL HEAT. °* 91 


of the carbon and of the hydrogen have united with 
those of the oxygen, to form carbonic acid and water. 

Now, so far as chemical researches have gone, 
our knowledge of the constitution of starch, and of 
the varieties of sugar, will justify no other conclu- 
sion than this, that these substances contain no ready 
formed carbonic acid. 

We are acquainted with a large number of pro- 
cesses of metamorphosis of a similar kind, in which 
the elements of carbonic acid and water are sepa- 
rated from certain pre-existing compounds ; and we 
know with certainty that all these processes are 
accompanied by a disengagement of heat, exactly 
as if the carbon and hydrogen combined directly 
with oxygen. 

Such a disengagement of carbonic acid, for ex- 
ample, occurs in all processes of fermentation or 
putrefaction, which are, without exception, accom- 
panied with the generation of heat. 

In the fermentation of a saccharine solution, in 
consequence of a new arrangement of the elements 
of the sugar, a certain part of its carbon and oxygen 
unite to form carbonic acid, which separates as gas ; 
and as another result of this decomposition, we ob- 
tain a volatile combustible liquid, containing little 
oxygen, namely, alcohol. 

If we add to 2 equivalents of sugar the elements of 
12 equivalents of water, and subtract from the sum 
of the atoms 24 equivalents of oxygen, there re- 
main 6 equivalents of alcohol. 


92 THE FORMATION OF FAT IS 


* (C.,H2,04 + Hi20.) — O, = C.4H3¢0), = 6 eq. alcohol. 

These 24 equivalents of oxygen suffice to oxidise 
completely a third equivalent of sugar—that is, to 
convert its carbon into carbonic acid and its hydro- 
gen into water, and by this oxidation we recover the 
12 equivalents of water supposed to be added in the 
former part of the process, exactly as if this water 
had taken no share in it. 

C,2H,.0.~% + O41 = 12CO, + 12HO. 

According to the ordinary view, 12 equivalents of 
carbonic acid separate from 3 of sugar, yielding 6 
of aleohol—that is, exactly the same amount of these 
products as if two-thirds of the sugar had yielded 
oxygen to the remaining third, so as completely to 
oxidise its elements. 

C 36H 36035 = CyH3g0)2 4- 12C0.* 

By a comparison of these two methods of repre- 
senting the same change, it will easily be seen that 
the division or splitting of a compound like sugar 
into carbonic acid, on the one hand, and a compound 
containing little oxygen, on the other, is in its results 
perfectly equivalent to a separation of oxygen from 
a certain portion of the compound and the oxidation 
or combustion of enother portion of it at the ex- 
pense of this oxygen. 

It is well known that the temperature of a fer- 
menting liquid rises ; and if we assume that a hogs- 
head of wort, holding 1,200 litres = 2,400 Ibs., 


* For an explanation of the formule and equations employed, 
see the Introduction to the Appendix. 


A SOURCE OF ANIMAL HEAT. 93 


French weight, contains 16 per cent. of sugar, in all 
384 Ibs., then, during the fermentation of this sugar, 
an amount of heat must be generated equal to that 
which would be produced by the combustion of 
51 Ibs. of carbon. 

This is equal to a quantity of heat by which 
every pound of the liquid might be heated by 
297°9°; that is, supposing the decomposition of 
the sugar to occur in a period of time too short 
to. be measured. This is well known not to be 
the case; the fermentation lasts five or six days, 
and each pound of liquid receives the 297-9 de- 
grees of heat during a period of 120 hours. In 
each hour there is, therefore, set free an amount 
of heat capable of raising the temperature of each 
pound of liquid 1:4 degree; a rise of tempera- 
ture which is very powerfully counteracted by ex- 
ternal cooling and by the vaporization of alcohol 
and water. 

The formation of fat, like other analogous phe- 
nomena in which oxygen is separated in the form 
of carbonic acid, is consequently accompanied by a 
disengagement of heat. This change supplies to 
the animal body a certain proportion of the oxygen 
indispensable to the vital processes ; and this espe- 
cially in those cases in which the oxygen absorbed 
by the skin and lungs is not sufficient to convert 
into carbonic acid the whole of the carbon adapted 
for this combination. 


94 FORMATION OF FAT. 


This excess of carbon, as it cannot be employed to 
form a part of any organ, is deposited in the cellular 
tissue in the form of tallow or oil. 

At every period of animal life, when there occurs 
a disproportion between the carbon of the food and 
the inspired oxygen, the latter being deficient, fat 
must be formed. Oxygen separates from existing 
compounds, and this oxygen is given out as carbonic 
acid or water. The heat generated in the formation 
of these two products contributes to keep up the 
temperature of the body. 

Every pound of carbon which obtains the oxy- 
gen necessary to convert it into carbonic acid from 
substances which thereby pass into fat, must dis- 
engage as much heat as would raise the tempera- 
ture of 200 Ibs. of water by 70°,—that is, from 32° 
to 102°. 

Thus, in the formation of fat, the vital force pos- 
sesses a means of counteracting a deficiency in the 
supply of oxygen, and consequently in that of the 
heat indispensable for the vital process. 

Experience teaches us that in poultry, the maxi- 
mum of fat is obtained by tying the feet, and by a 
medium temperature. These animals in such cir- 
cumstances may be compared to a plant possessing 
in the highest degree the power of converting all 
food into parts of its own structure. The excess of 
the constituents of blood forms flesh and other 
organised tissues, while that of starch, sugar, &c., 


CONSTITUENTS OF FOOD. 95 


is converted into fat. When animals are fattened 
on food destitute of nitrogen, only certain parts of 
their structure increase in size. Thus, in a goose, 
fattened in the method above alluded to, the liver 
becomes three or four times larger than in the same 
animal, when well fed with free motion, while we 
cannot say that the organised structure of the liver 
is thereby increased. The liver of a goose fed in the 
ordinary way is firm and elastic; that of the im- 
prisoned animal is soft and spongy. The difference 
consists in a greater or less expansion of its cells, 
which are filled with fat. 

In some diseases, the starch, sugar, &c., of the 
food obviously do not undergo the changes which 
enable them to assist in respiration, and consequently 
to be converted into fat. Thus, in diabetes mellitus, 
the starch is only converted into grape sugar, which 
is expelled from the body without further change. 

In other diseases, as for example in inflammation 
of the liver, we find the blood loaded with fat and 
oil; and in the composition of the bile there is 
nothing at all inconsistent with the supposition that 
some of its constituents may be transformed into fat. 


XIX. According to what has been laid down in 
the preceding pages, the substances of which the 
food of man is composed may be divided into two 
classes ; into nztrogenised and non-nitrogenised. The 
former are capable of conversion into blood; the 
latter incapable of this transformation. 


96 NITROGENISED AND NON-NITROGENISED 


Out of those substances which are adapted to the 
formation of blood are formed all the organised 
tissues. The other class of substances, in the normal 
state of health, serve to support the process of res- 
piration. The former may be called the plastic ele- 
ments of nutrition ; the latter, elements of respiration. 

Among the former we reckon— 

Vegetable fibrine. 
Vegetable albumen. 
Vegetable caseine. 


Animal flesh. 
Animal blood. 


Among the elements of respiration in our food, 


are—— 
Fat. Pectine. 
Starch. Bassorine. 
Gum. «+ Wane: 
Cane Sugar. Beer. 
Grape Sugar. Spirits. 


Sugar of milk. 


XX. The most recent and exact researches have 
established as a universal fact, to which nothing yet 
known is opposed, that the nitrogenised constituents 
of vegetable food have a composition identical with 
that of the constituents of the blood. 

No nitrogenised compound, the composition of 
which differs from that of fibrine, albumen, and 
caseine, is capable of supporting the vital process in 
animals. 

The animal organism unquestionably possesses the 


Land 


ELEMENTS OF FOOD. 97 


power of forming, from the constituents of its blood, 
the substance of its membranes and cellular tissue, 
of the nerves and brain, of the organic part of carti- 
lages and bones. But the blood must be supplied 
to it ready formed in every thing but its form—that 
is, in its chemical composition. If this be not done, 
a period is rapidly put to the formation of blood, 
and consequently to life. 

This consideration enables us easily to explain 
how it happens that the tissues yielding gelatine or 
chondrine, as, for example, the gelatine of skin or of 
bones, are not adapted for the support of the vital 
process; for their composition is different from that 
of fibrine or albumen. It is obvious that this means 
nothing more than that those parts of the animal 
organism which form the blood do not possess the 
power of effecting a transformation in the arrange- 
ment of the elements of gelatine, or of those tissues 
which contain it. The gelatinous tissues, the gela- 
tine of the bones, the membranes, the cells, and the 
skin, suffer, in the animal body, under the influence 
of oxygen and moisture, a progressive alteration; a 
part of these tissues is separated, and must be re- 
stored from the blood; but this alteration and re- 
storation is obviously confined within very narrow 
limits. 

While, in the body of a starving or sick individual, 
the fat disappears, and the muscular tissue takes 
once more the form of blood, we find that the ten- 
dons and membranes retain their natural condition ; 

H * 


93 GELATINE MAY SERVE TO 


the limbs of the dead body retain their connections, 
which depend on the gelatinous tissues. 

On the other hand, we see that the gelatine of 
bones devoured by a dog entirely disappears, while 
only the bone earth is found in his excrements. 
The same is true of man, when fed on food rich 
in gelatine, as, for example, strong soup. The gela- 
tine is not to be found either in the urine or in the 
feces, and consequently must have undergone a 
change, and must have served some purpose in the 
animal economy. It is clear, that the gelatine must 
be expelled from the body in a form different from 
that in which it was introduced as food. 

When we consider the transformation of the 
albumen of the blood into a part of an organ com- 
posed of fibrine, the identity in composition of the 
two substances renders the change easily conceivable. 
Indeed we find the change of a dissolved substance 
into an insoluble organ of vitality, chemically speak- 
ing, natural and easily explained, on account of this 
very identity of composition. Hence the opinion is 
not unworthy of a closer investigation, that gela- 
tine, when taken in the dissolved state, is again con- 
verted, in the body, into cellular tissue, membrane 
and cartilage ; that it may serve for the reproduction 
of such parts of these tissues as have been wasted, 
and for their growth. 

And when the powers of nutrition in the whole 
body are affected by a change of the health, then, 
even should the power of forming blood remain the 


NOURISH THE GELATINOUS TISSUES. 99 


same, the organic force by which the constituents 
of the blood are transformed into cellular tissue and 
membranes must necessarily be enfeebled by sick- 
ness. In the sick man, the intensity of the vital 
force, its power to produce metamorphoses, must be 
diminished as well in the stomach as in all other 
parts of the body. In this condition, the uniform 
experience of practical physicians shews that gela- 
tinous matters in a dissolved state exercise a most 
decided influence on the state of the health. Given 
in a form adapted for assimilation, they. serve to 
husband the vital force, just as may be done, in the 
case of the stomach, by due preparation of the food 
in general. Brittleness in the bones of graminivo- 
rous animals is clearly owing to a weakness in those 
parts of the organism whose function it is to convert 
the constituents of the blood into cellular tissue 
and membrane; and if we can trust to the reports 
of physicians who have resided in the East, the 
Turkish women, in their diet of rice, and in the 
frequent use of enemata of strong soup, have united 
the conditions necessary for the formation both of 
cellular tissue and of fat. 


1 a 


oy ae 


nl sie aM, wh owt sia a A, 
| [jece hestartt 4 | 


FU ik ae tS ee 


PATE 


THE 


METAMORPHOSIS OF TISSUES. 


Sti) 


: a | 
an P rete a i a i = 
a aad) TO. 4IZOHADOM AT 


So 


THE 


METAMORPHOSIS OF TISSUES. 


1. THE absolute identity of composition in the 
chief constituents of blood and the nitrogenised 
compounds in vegetable food would, some years ago, 
have furnished a plausible reason for denying the 
accuracy of the chemical analyses leading to such a 
result. At that period, experiment had not as yet 
demonstrated the existence of numerous compounds, 
both containing nitrogen and devoid of that element, 
which, with the greatest diversity in external charac- 
ters, yet possess the very same composition in 100 
parts; nay, many of which even contain the same 
absolute amount of equivalents of each element. 
Such examples are now very frequent, and are 
known by the names of isomeric and polymeric 
compounds. 

2. Cyanurie acid, for example, is a nitrogenised 
compound which crystallizes in beautiful transparent 
octahedrons, easily soluble in water and in acids, 
and very permanent. Cyamelide is a second body, 
absolutely insoluble in water and acids, white 
and opaque like porcelain or magnesia. Hydrated 
eyanic acid is a third compound, which is a liquid, 
more volatile than pure acetic acid, which blisters 


104 ISOMERIC BODIES. 


the skin, and cannot be brought in contact with 
water without being instantaneously resolved into 
new products. These three substances not only 
yield, on analysis, absolutely the same _ relative 
weights of the same elements, but they may be 
converted and reconverted into one another, even 
in hermetically closed vessels—that is, without the 
aid of any foreign matter. (See Appendix, 21.) 
Again, among those substances which contain no 
nitrogen, we have aldehyde, a combustible liquid 
miscible with water, which boils at the temperature 
of the hand, attracts oxygen from the atmosphere 
with avidity, and is thereby changed into acetic acid. 
This compound cannot be preserved, even in close 
vessels ; for after some hours or days, its consistence, 
its volatility, and its power of absorbing oxygen, all 
are changed. It deposits long, hard, needle-shaped 
erystals, which at 212° are not volatilized, and the 
supernatant liquid is no longer aldehyde. It now 
boils at 140°, cannot be mixed with water, and when 
cooled to a moderate degree crystallizes in a form 
like ice. Nevertheless, analysis has proved, that 
these three bodies, so different in their characters, 
are identical in composition. (21) 

3. A similar group of three occurs in the ease of 
albumen, fibrine, and caseine. They differ in exter- 
nal character, but contain exactly the same propor- 
tions of organic elements. 

When animal albumen, fibrine, and caseine are 
dissolved in a moderately streng solution of caustic 


DISCOVERY OF PROTEINE. 105 


potash, and the solution is exposed for some time 
to a high temperature, these substances are decom- 
posed. The addition of acetic acid to the solution 
causes, in all three, the separation of a gelatinous 
translucent precipitate, which has exactly the same 
characters and composition, from whichever of the 
three substances above mentioned it has been ob- 
tained. 

MuLDER, to whom we owe the discovery of this 
compound, found, by exact and careful analysis, that 
it contains the same organic elements, and exactly 
in the same proportion, as the animal matters from 
which it is prepared; insomuch, that if we deduct 
from the analysis of albumen, fibrine, and caseine, 
the ashes they yield, when incinerated, as well as 
the sulphur and phosphorus they contain, and then 
calculate the remainder for 100 parts, we obtain 
the same result as in the analysis of the precipitate 
above described, prepared by potash, which is free 
from inorganic matter. (22) ' 

Viewed in this light, the chief constituents of the 
blood and the caseine of milk may be regarded as 
compounds of phosphates and other salts, and of 
sulphur and phosphorus, with a compound of carbon, 
nitrogen, hydrogen, and oxygen, in which the rela- 
tive proportion of these elements is invariable ; and 
this compound may be considered as the com- 
mencement and starting-point of all other animal 
tissues, because these are all produced from the 
blood. 


106 PROTEINE EXISTS IN FIBRINE, 


These considerations induced Mulder to give to 
this product of the decomposition of albumen, &e. 
by potash, the name of proteine (from mpwredo, “ I 
take the first rank”). The blood, or the constitu- 
ents of the blood, are consequently compounds of 
this proteine with variable proportions of inorganic 
substances. 

Mulder further ascertained, that the insoluble 
nitrogenised constituent of wheat flour (vegetable 
fibrine), when treated with potash, yields the very 
same product, proteine; and it has recently been 
proved that vegetable albumen and caseine are 
acted on by potash precisely as animal albumen 
and caseine are. 

4. As far, therefore, as our researches have 
gone, it may be laid down as a law, founded on 
experience, that vegetables produce, in their organ- 
ism, compounds of proteine; and that out of these 
compounds of proteine the various tissues and parts 
of the animal body are developed by the vital force, 
with the aid of the oxygen of the atmosphere and 
of the elements of water.* 


* The experiment of Tiedemann and Gmelin, who found it im- 
possible to sustain the life of geese by means of boiled white of 
egg, may be easily explained, when we reflect that a graminivo- 
rous animal, especially when deprived of free motion, cannot 
obtain, from the transformation or waste of the tissues alone, 
enough of carbon for the respiratory process. 2 lbs. of albumen 
contain only 33 oz. of carbon, of which, among the last products 
of transformation, a fourth part is given off in the form of uric 
acid. 


ALBUMEN, AND CASEINE. 107 


Now, although it cannot be demonstrated that 
proteine exists ready formed in these vegetable and 
animal products, and although the difference in 
their properties seems to indicate that their ele- 
ments are not arranged in the same manner, yet 
the hypothesis of the pre-existence of proteine, as 
a point of departure in developing and comparing 
their properties, is exceedingly convenient. At all 
events, it is certain that the elements of these com- 
pounds assume the same arrangement when acted 
on by potash at a high temperature. 

All the organic nitrogenised constituents of the 
body, how different soever they may be in composi- 
tion, are derived from proteine. They are formed 
from it, by the addition or subtraction of the ele- 
ments of water or of oxygen, and by resolution 
into two or more compounds. 

5. This proposition must be received as an un- 
deniable truth, when we reflect on the develope- 
ment of the young animal in the egg of a fowl. 
The egg can be shewn to contain no other nitro- 
genised compound except albumen. The albumen 
of the yolk is identical with that of the white; (23) 
the yolk contains, besides, only a yellow fat, in 
which cholesterine and iron may be detected. Yet 
we see, in the process of incubation, during which 
no food and no foreign matter, except the oxygen 
of the air, is introduced, or can take part in the 
developement of the animal, that out of the albu- 
men, feathers, claws, globules of the blood, fibrine, 


108 DIGESTION COMPARED 


membrane and cellular tissue, arteries and veins, 
are produced. ‘The fat of the yolk may have con- 
tributed, to a certain extent, to the formation of 
the nerves and brain; but the carbon of this fat 
cannot have been employed to produce the organ- 
ised tissues in which vitality resides, because the 
albumen of the white and of the yolk already con- 
tains, for the quantity of nitrogen present, exactly 
the proportion of carbon required for the formation 
of these tissues. 

6. The true starting-point for all the tissues is, 
consequently, albumen; all nitrogenised articles of 
food, whether derived from the animal or from the 
vegetable kingdom, are converted into albumen 
before they can take part in the process of nutri-. 
tion. 

All the food consumed by an animal becomes in 
the stomach soluble, and capable of entering into 
the circulation. In the process by which this solu- 
tion is effected, only one fluid, besides the oxygen 
of the air, takes a part; it is that which is secreted 
by the lining membrane of the stomach. 

The most decisive experiments of physiologists 
have shewn that the process of chymification is 
independent of the vital force; that it takes place 
in virtue of a purely chemical action, exactly simi- 
lar to those processes of decomposition or transfor- 
mation which are known as putrefaction, fermenta- 
tion, or decay (eremacausis). 

7. When expressed in the simplest form, fer- 


TO FERMENTATION. 109 


mentation, or putrefaction, may be described as a 
process of transformation—that is, a new arrange- 
ment of the elementary particles, or atoms, of a 
compound, yielding two or more new groups or 
compounds, and caused by contact with other sub- 
stances, the elementary particles of which are them- 
selves in a state of transformation or decomposition. 
It is a communication, or an imparting of a state of 
motion, which the atoms of a body in a state of 
motion are capable of producing in other bodies, 
whose elementary particles are held together only 
by a feeble attraction. 

8. Thus the clear gastric juice contains a sub- 
stance in a state of transformation, by the con- 
tact of which with those constituents of the food 
which, by themselves, are insoluble in water, the 
latter acquire, in virtue of a new grouping of 
their atoms, the property of dissolving in that fluid. 
During digestion, the gastric juice, when separated, 
is found to contain a free mineral acid, the presence 
of which checks all further change. That the food is 
rendered soluble quite independently of the vitality 
of the digestive organs has been proved by a num- 
ber of the most beautiful experiments. Food, en- 
closed in perforated metallic tubes, so that it could 
not come into contact with the stomach, was found 
to disappear as rapidly, and to be as perfectly di- 
gested, as if the covering had been absent; and 
fresh gastric juice, out of the body, when boiled 
white of egg, or muscular fibre, were kept in 


110 POWER OF ANIMAL MEMBRANE 


contact with it for a time at the temperature of 
the body, caused these substances to lose the solid 
form and to dissolve in the liquid. 

9. It can hardly be doubted that the substance 
which is present in the gastric juice in a state of 
change is a product of the transformation of the 
stomach itself. No substances possess, in so high 
a degree as those arising from the progressive de- 
composition of the tissues containing gelatine or 
chondrine, the property of exciting a change in the 
arrangement of the elements of other compounds. 
When the lining membrane of the stomach of any 
animal, as, for example, that of the calf, is cleaned 
by continued washing with water, it produces no 
effect whatever, if brought into contact with a solu- 
tion of sugar, with milk, or other substances. But 
if the same membrane be exposed for some time 
to the air, or dried, and then placed in contact with 
such substances, the sugar is changed, according to 
the state of decomposition of the animal matter, 
either into lactic acid, into mannite and mucilage, 
or into alcohol and carbonic acid; while milk is 
instantly coagulated. An ordinary animal bladder 
retains, when dry, all its properties unchanged; but 
when exposed to air and moisture, it undergoes a 
change not indicated by any obvious external signs. 
If, in this state, it be placed in a solution of sugar 
of milk, that substance is quickly changed into 
lactic acid. 

10. The fresh lining membrane of the stomach of 


TO PRODUCE FERMENTATION. 111 


a calf, digested with weak muriatic acid, gives to 
this fluid no power of dissolving boiled flesh or co- 
agulated white of egg. But if previously allowed to 
dry, or if left for a time in water, it then yields, to 
water acidulated with muriatic acid, a substance in 
minute quantity, the decomposition of which is 
already commenced, and is completed in the solu- 
tion. If coagulated albumen be placed in this so- 
lution, the state of decomposition is communicated 
to it, first at the edges, which become translucent, 
pass into a mucilage, and finally dissolve. The same 
change gradually affects the whole mass, and at last 
it is entirely dissolved, with the exception of fatty 
particles, which render the solution turbid. Oxygen 
is conveyed to every part of the body by the arterial 
blood; moisture is everywhere present ; and thus we 
have united the chief conditions of all transforma- 
tions in the animal body. 

Thus, as in the germination of seeds, the presence 
of a body in a state of decomposition or transforma- 
tion, which has been called diastase, effects the solu- 
tion of the starch—that is, its conversion into sugar ; 
so, a product of the metamorphosis of the substance 
of the stomach, being itself in a state of metamor- 
phosis which is completed in the stomach, effects the 
dissolution of all such parts of the food as are capable 
of assuming a soluble form. In certain diseases, 
there are produced from the starch, sugar, &c., of the 
food, lactic acid and mucilage. (24) These are the 
very same products which we can produce out of 


112 LACTIC ACID NOT FORMED 


sugar by means of membrane in a state of decompo- 
sition out of the body; but in a normal state of 
health, no lactic acid is formed in the stomach. 

11. The property possessed by many substances, 
such as starch and the varieties of sugar, by contact 
with animal substances in a state of decomposition, 
to pass into lactic acid, has induced physiologists, 
without further inquiry, to assume the fact of the 
production of lactic acid during digestion; and the 
power which this acid has of dissolving phosphate of 
lime has led them to ascribe to it the character of a 
general solvent. But neither Prout nor Braconnet 
could detect lactic acid in the gastric juice ; and even 
Lehmann (see his “ Lehrbuch der Physiologischen 
Chemie,” tom. i. p. 285) obtained from the gastric 
juice of a cat only microscopic crystals, which he 
took for lactate of zine, although their chemical 
character could not be ascertained. The presence 
of free muriatic,acid in the gastric juice, first ob- 
served by Prout, has been confirmed by all those 
chemists who have examined that fluid since. This 
muriatie acid is obviously derived from common salt, 
the soda of which plays a very decided part in the 
conversion of fibrine and caseine into blood. 

Muriatic acid yields to no other acid in the power 
of dissolving bone earth, and even acetic acid, in this 
respect, is equal to lactic acid. There is conse- 
quently no proof of the necessity of lactic acid in 
the digestive process ; and we know with certainty, 
that in artificial digestion it is not formed. Berze- 


IN THE HEALTHY STOMACH. 113 


lius indeed has found lactic acid in the blood and 
flesh of animals; but when his experiments were 
made, chemists were ignorant of the extraordinary 
facility and rapidity with which this acid is formed 
from a number of substances containing its elements, 
when in contact with animal matter. 

In the gastric juice of a dog, Braconnet found, 
along with free muriatic acid, distinct traces of a salt 
of iron, which he at first held to be an accidental 
admixture. But in the gastric juice of a second 
dog, collected with the utmost care, the iron was 
again found. (Ann. de Ch. et de Ph. lix. p. 249.) 
This occurrence of iron is full of significance in 
regard to the formation of the blood. 

12. In the action of the gastric juice on the 
food, no other element takes a share, except the 
oxygen of the atmosphere and the elements of water. 
This oxygen is introduced directly into the stomach. 
During the mastication of the food, there is secreted 
into the mouth from organs specially destined to 
this function, a fluid, the saliva, which possesses the 
remarkable property of enclosing air in the shape of 
froth, in a far higher degree than even soap-suds. 
This air, by means of the saliva, reaches the stomach 
with the food, and there its oxygen enters into com- 
bination, while its nitrogen is given out through the 
skin and lungs. The longer digestion continues, that 
is, the greater the resistance offered to the solvent 
action by the food, the more saliva, and consequently 
the more air enters the stomach. Rumination, in 

I 


114 USE OF THE SALIVA. 


certain graminivorous animals, has plainly for one 
object a renewed and repeated introduction of oxy- 
gen; fora more minute mechanical division of the 
food only shortens the time required for solution. 

The unequal quantities of air which reach the 
stomach with the saliva in different classes of ani- 
mals explain the accurate observations made by 
physiologists, who have established beyond all doubt - 
the fact, that animals give out pure nitrogen through 
the skin and lungs, in variable quantity. This fact 
is so much the more important, as it furnishes the 
most decisive proof, that the nitrogen of the air is 
applied to no use in the animal economy. 

The fact that nitrogen is given out by the skin 
and lungs, is explained by the property which animal 
membranes possess of allowing all gases to permeate 
them, a property which can be shewn to exist by the 
most simple experiments. <A bladder, filled with 
carbonic acid, nitrogen, or hydrogen gas, if tightly 
closed and suspended in the air, loses in twenty-four 
hours the whole of the enclosed gas; by a kind of 
exchange, it passes outwards into the atmosphere, 
while its place is occupied by atmospherical air. <A 
portion of intestine, a stomach, or a piece of skin 
or membrane, acts precisely as the bladder, if filled 
with any gas. This permeability to gases is a me- 
chanical property, common to all animal tissues ; 
and it is found in the same degree in the living as 
in the dead tissue. 

It is known that in cases of wounds of the lungs 


GASES PERMEATE MEMBRANES. 115 


a peculiar condition is produced, in which, by the 
act of inspiration, not only oxygen but atmospheri- 
eal air, with its whole amount ($ths) of nitrogen, 
penetrates into the cells of the lungs. This air is 
carried by the circulation to every part of the body, 
so that every part is inflated or puffed up with the 
air, as with water in dropsy. This state ceases, 
without pain, as soon as the entrance of the air 
through the wound is stopped. There can be no 
doubt that the oxygen of the air, thus accumu- 
lated in the cellular tissue, enters into combination, 
while its nitrogen is expired through the skin and 
lungs. 

Moreover, it is well known that in many gramini- 
vorous animals, when the digestive organs have been 
overloaded with fresh juicy vegetables, these sub- 
stances undergo in the stomach the same decompo- 
sition as they would at the same temperature out of 
the body. They pass into fermentation and putre- 
faction, whereby so great a quantity of carbonic acid 
gas and of inflammable gas is generated, that these 
organs are enormously distended, sometimes even to 
bursting. From the structure of their stomach or 
stomachs, these gases cannot escape through the 
cesophagus; but in the course of a few hours, the 
distended body of the animal becomes less swoln, 
and at the end of twenty-four hours no trace of the 
gases is left. (25) 

Finally, if we consider the fatal accidents which 
so frequently occur in wine countries from the 


12 


116 SOURCES OF THE NITROGEN 


drinking of what is called feather-white wine (der 
federweisse Wein), we can no longer doubt that gases 
of every kind, whether soluble or insoluble in water, 
possess the property of permeating animal tissues, 
as water penetrates unsized paper. This poison- 
ous wine is wine still in a state of fermentation, 
which is increased by the heat of the stomach. The 
carbonic acid gas which is disengaged penetrates 
through the parietes of the stomach, through the 
diaphragm, and through all the intervening mem- 
branes, into the air-cells of the lungs, out of which 
it displaces the atmospherical air. The patient dies 
with all the symptoms of asphyxia caused by an 
irrespirable gas; and the surest proof of the pre- 
sence of the carbonic acid in the lungs is the fact, 
that the inhalation of ammonia (which combines 
with it) is recognized as the best antidote against 
this kind of poisoning. 

The carbonic acid of effervescing wines and of 
soda-water, when taken into the stomach, or of 
water saturated with this gas, administered in the 
form of enema, is given out again through the 
skin and lungs; and this is equally true of the 
nitrogen which is introduced into the stomach with 
the food in the saliva. 

No doubt a part of these gases may enter the ve- 
nous circulation through the absorbent and lymphatic 
vessels, and thus reach the lungs, where they are 
exhaled ; but the presence of membranes offers not 
the slightest obstacle to their passing directly into 


EXHALED FROM THE LUNGS. TAY 


the cavity of the chest. It is, in fact, difficult to 
suppose that the absorbents and lymphatics have 
any peculiar tendency to absorb air, nitrogen, or hy- 
drogen, and convey these gases into the circulation, 
since the intestines, the stomach, and all spaces in 
the body not filled with solid or liquid matters, con- 
tain gases, which only quit their position when their 
volume exceeds a certain point, and which, conse- 
quently, are not absorbed. More especially in refer- 
ence to nitrogen, we must suppose that it is removed 
from the stomach by some more direct means, and 
not by the blood, which fluid must already, in passing 
through the lungs, have become saturated with that 
gas, that is, must have absorbed a quantity of it, 
proportioned to its solvent power, like any other 
liquid. By the respiratory motions all the gases 
which fill the otherwise empty spaces of the body 
are urged towards the chest; for by the motion of 
the diaphragm and the expansion of the chest a par- 
tial vacuum is produced, in consequence of which 
air is forced into the chest from all sides by the at- 
mospherie pressure. The equilibrium is, no doubt, 
restored, for the most part, through the windpipe, 
but all the gases in the body must, nevertheless, 
receive an impulse towards the chest. Jn birds and 
tortoises these arrangements are reversed. If we 
assume that a man introduces into the stomach in 
each minute only {th of a cubic inch of air with the 
saliva, this makes in eighteen hours 135 cubie inches; 
and if 3th be deducted as oxygen, there will still 


118 TRUE NATURE OF THE 


remain 108 cubic inches of nitrogen, which occupy 
the space of 3 lbs. of water. Now whatever may be 
the actual amount of the nitrogen thus swallowed, 
it is certain that the whole of it is given out again 
by the mouth, nose, and skin; and when we consider 
the very large quantity of nitrogen found in the in- 
testines of executed criminals by Magendie, as well 
as the entire absence of oxygen in these organs (26), 
we must assume that air, and consequently nitrogen, 
enters the stomach by resorption through the skin, 
and is afterwards exhaled by the lungs. 

When animals are made to respire in gases con- 
taining no nitrogen, more of that gas is exhaled, 
because in this case the nitrogen within the body 
acts towards the external space as if the latter were 
a vacuum. (See Graham, “On the Diffusion of 
Gases.”’) 

The differences in the amount of expired nitrogen 
in different classes of animals are thus easily ex- 
plained ; the herbivora swallow with the saliva more 
air than the carnivora; they expire more nitrogen 
than the latter,—less when fasting than immediately 
after taking food. 

13. In the same way as muscular fibre, when 
separated from the body, communicates the state of 
decomposition existing in its elements to the per- 
oxide of hydrogen, so a certain product, arising by 
means of the vital process, and in consequence of the 
transposition of the elements of parts of the sto- 
mach and of the other digestive organs, while its own 


DIGESTIVE PROCESS. 119 


metamorphosis is accomplished in the stomach, acts 
on the food. The insoluble matters become soluble 
—they are digested. 

It is certainly remarkable, that hard-boiled white 
of egg or fibrine, when rendered soluble by certain 
liquids, by organic acids, or weak alkaline solutions, 
retain all their properties except the solid form 
(cohesion) without the slightest change. Their ele- 
mentary molecules, without doubt, assume a new 
arrangement ; they do not, however, separate into 
two or more groups, but remain united together. 

The very same thing occurs in the digestive pro- 
cess ; in the normal state, the food only undergoes 
a change in its state of cohesion, becoming fluid 
without any other change of properties. 

The greatest obstacle to forming a clear concep- 
tion of the nature of the digestive process, which is 
here reckoned among those chemical metamorphoses 
which have been called fermentation and putrefac- 
tion, consists in our involuntary recollection of the 
phenomena which accompany the fermentation of 
sugar and of animal substances (putrefaction), which 
phenomena we naturally associate with any similar 
change; but there are numberless cases in which a 
complete chemical metamorphosis of the elements 
of a compound occurs without the smallest disen- 
gagement of gas, and it is chiefly these which must 
be borne in mind, if we would acquire a clear and 
accurate idea of the chemical notion or conception 


of the digestive process. 


120 NATURE OF FERMENT. 


All substances which can arrest the phenomena 
of fermentation and putrefaction in liquids, also ar- 
rest digestion when taken into the stomach. The 
action of the empyreumatic matters in coffee and 
tobacco-smoke, of creosote, of mercurials, &e. &e., is 
on this account worthy of peculiar attention with 
reference to dietetics. 

The identity in composition of the chief consti- 
tuents of blood and of the nitrogenised constituents 
of vegetable food has certainly furnished, in an un- 
expected manner, an explanation of the fact that 
putrefying blood, white of egg, flesh, and cheese pro- 
duce the same effects in a solution of sugar as yeast 
or ferment ; that sugar, in contact with these sub- 
stances, according to the particular stage of decom- 
position in which the putrefying matters may be, 
yields, at one time, alcohol and carbonic acid; at 
another, lactic acid, mannite, and mucilage. The 
explanation is simply this, that ferment, or yeast, 
is nothing but vegetable fibrine, albumen, or caseine 
in a state of decomposition, these substances having 
the same composition with the constituents of flesh, 
blood, or cheese. The putrefaction of these animal 
matters is a process identical with the metamorpho- 
sis of the vegetable matters identical with them , 
it is a separation or splitting up into new and less 
complex compounds. And if we consider the trans- 
formation of the elements of the animal body (the 
waste of matter in animals) as a chemical process 


which goes on under the influence of the vital force, 


COMPOSITION OF PROTEINE. 12 


then the putrefaction of animal matters out of the 
body is a division into simpler compounds, in which 
the vital force takes no share. The action in both 
cases 1s the same, only the products differ. The 
practice of medicine has furnished the most beau- 
tiful and interesting observations on the action of 
empyreumatic substances, such as wood, vinegar, 
creosote, &e¢., on malignant wounds and ulcers. In 
such morbid phenomena two actions are going on 
together; one metamorphosis, which strives to com- 
plete itself under the influence of the vital force, 
and another, independent of that force. The latter 
is a chemical process, which is entirely suppressed 
or arrested by empyreumatic substances; and this 
effect is precisely opposed to the poisonous influence 
exercised on the organism by putrefying blood when 
introduced into a fresh wound. 

14. The formula C,,H,,;N,O,,* is that which 
most accurately expresses the composition of pro- 
teme, or the relative proportions of the organic 
elements in the blood, as ascertained by analysis. 
Albumen, fibrine, and caseine contain proteine ; 
caseine contains, besides, sulphur, but no phospho- 
rus; albumen and fibrine contain both these sub- 
stances chemically combined—the former more sul- 
phur than the latter. We cannot directly ascertain 
in what form the phosphorus exists, but we have 
decided proof that the sulphur cannot be in the 


* For the method of converting this and other formule into 


proportions per cent. see Appendix. 


122 COMPOSITION OF FIBRINE, 


oxidised state. All these substances, when heated 
with a moderately strong solution of potash, yield 
the sulphur which we find in the solution as sul- 
phuret of potassium; and on the addition of an 
acid it is given off as sulphuretted hydrogen. When 
pure fibrine or ordinary albumen is dissolved in a 
weak solution of potash, and acetate of lead is added 
to the solution, in such proportion that the whole of 
the oxide of lead remains dissolved in the potash, 
the mixture, if heated to the boiling point, becomes 
black like ink, and sulphuret of lead is deposited 
as a fine black powder. 

It is extremely probable, that by the action of 
the alkali the sulphur is removed as sulphuretted 
hydrogen, the phosphorus as phosphoric or phos- 
phorous acid. Since, in this case, sulphur and phos- 
phorus are eliminated on the one hand, and oxygen 
and hydrogen on the other, it might be concluded 
that fibrine and albumen, when analysed with their 
sulphur and phosphorus, would yield a larger pro- 
portion of oxygen and hydrogen than is found in 
proteine. But this cannot be shewn in the analysis ; 
for fibrine, for example, has been found to contain 
0-36 per cent. of sulphur. Assuming, then, that 
this sulphur is eliminated by the alkali in combina- 
tion with hydrogen, proteine would yield 0-0225 
per cent. less hydrogen than fibrine; instead of the 
mean amount of 7:062 per cent. of hydrogen, the 
proteme should yield 7:04 per cent. In like man- 
ner, by the elimination of the phosphorus in combi- 


ALBUMEN, AND CASEINE. 125 


nation with oxygen, the amount of oxygen in fibrine 
would be reduced from 22°715—22:-00 per cent. to 
22°5—21°8 per cent. in proteine. But the limits of 
error in our analyses are, on an average, beyond 
qoth per cent. in the hydrogen, and beyond zoths 
per cent. in the oxygen; while in the supposed case 
the difference in the hydrogen would not be greater 
than z'sth per cent. 

Finally, if we reflect, that the elimination of oxy- 
gen and hydrogen with the sulphur and phosphorus 
does not exclude the addition of the elements of 
water, and if we assume that fibrine and albu- 
men, in passing into proteine, do combine with a 
certain quantity of water, an occurrence which is 
highly probable, we shall see that there is no proba- 
bility that the ultimate analysis of these compounds 
shall ever enable us to decide such questions, or to 
fix the chemical view of the relation of proteine to 
albumen, fibrine, or caseine, farther than has been 
done above. 

Some have endeavoured to prove the existence of 
unoxidised phosphorus in albumen and fibrine from 
the formation of sulphuret of potassium when they 
are acted on by potash, supposing the oxygen of the 
potash to have formed phosphoric acid with the 
phosphorus; but caseine, which contains no phos- 
phorus, yields sulphuret of potassium, just like the 
other substances; and here its formation cannot be 
accounted for, unless we admit the previous pro- 
duction of sulphuretted hydrogen. In the mere 


124 COMPOSITION OF FIBRINE, &c. 


boiling of flesh, for the purpose of making soup, sul- 
phuretted hydrogen, as Chevreul has shewn, is dis- 
engaged. | 

Moreover, the proportion of sulphur, for the same 
amount of phosphorus, is not the same in fibrine 
and albumen, from which no other conclusion can 
be drawn, but that the formation of sulphuret of 
potassium has no relation to the presence of phos- 
phorus. Sulphuret of potassium is formed from 
caseine, which is not supposed to contain any un- 
combined phosphorus; and it is formed, also, from 
albumen, which contains only half as much phos- 
phorus as fibrine. 

Every attempt to give the true absolute amount 
of the atoms in fibrine and albumen in a rational 
formula, in which the sulphur and phosphorus are 
taken, not in fractions, but in entire equivalents, 
must be fruitless, because we are absolutely unable 
to determine with perfect accuracy the exceedingly 
minute quantities of sulphur and phosphorus in 
such compounds; and because a variation in the 
sulphur or phosphorus, smaller in extent than 
the usual limit of errors of observation, will affect 
the number of atoms of carbon, hydrogen, or oxy- 
gen to the extent of 10 atoms or more. 

We must be careful not to deceive ourselves in 
our expectations of what chemical analysis can do. 
We know, with certainty, that the numbers repre- 
senting the relative proportions of the organic ele- 
ments are the same in albumen and fibrine, and 


COMPOSITION OF TISSUES. 125 


hence we conclude that they have the same com- 
position. This conclusion is not affected by the 
fact, that we do not know the absolute number of 
the atoms of their elements, which have united to 
form the compound atom. 

15. A formula for proteine is nothing more 
than the nearest and most exact expression in 
equivalents, of the result of the best analyses ; it 
is a fact established so far, free from doubt, and 
this alone is, for the present, valuable to us. 

If we reflect, that from the albumen and fibrine of 
the body all the other tissues are derived, it is per- 
fectly clear, that this can only occur in two ways. 
Hither certain elements have been added to, or 
removed from, their constituent parts. 

If we now, for example, look for an analytical 
expression of the composition of cellular tissue, of 
the tissues yielding gelatine, of tendons, of hair, of 
horn, &e., in which the number of atoms of carbon 
is made invariably the same as in albumen and 
fibrine, we can then see, at the first glance, in what 
way the proportion of the other elements has been 
altered ; but this includes all that physiology re- 
quires in order to obtain an insight into the true 
nature of the formative and nutritive processes in 
the animal body. 

From the researches of Mulder and Scherer we 
obtain the following empirical formule : 


126 DIFFERENCES IN COMPOSITION 


Composition of organic tissues. 


Pbuniens sd08is s92d v.60 508 C,,3N;H;,0\, + P + S* 
RTC <<, aden enclose suet das aact CisNeH30, + P + 25 
BeSO IE houses ona seer does « CisN;H;,04, + S 
Gelatinous tissues, tendons ... C,N;.;H,O}; 

CO MUTING oc25ees oveccaroreote tees CN Gr ian 

Hairs horn?) )..b AVS. C.3N;H30,, 

Arterial membrane ............ C,3N ¢H3,04. 


The composition of these formule shews, that 
when proteine passes Into chondrine (the substance 
of the cartilages of the ribs), the elements of water, 
with oxygen, have been added to it; while in the 
formation of the serous membranes, nitrogen also 
has entered into combination. 

If we represent the formula of proteine, C,,N, 
H,,0,, by Pr, then nitrogen, hydrogen, and oxygen 
have been added to it in the form of known com- 
pounds, and in the following proportions, in form- 
ing the gelatinous tissues, hair, horn, arterial mem- 
brane, &e. 


Proteine. Ammonia. Water. Oxygen. 


Fibrine, Albumen...... Pr 

Arterial membrane. ... Pr ............ + 2HO 
Chondrine si ncsciands,»< lg ee ee + 4HO + 20. 
Hair OM 223522 9.-043 > Pr tops NEL is) aes + 30. 


Gelatinous tissues ... 2Pr + 3NH; + HO + 70. 


17. From this general statement it appears that 
all the tissues of the body contain, for the same 


* The quantities of sulphur and phosphorus here expressed by 
S and Pare not equivalents, but only give the relative proportions 
of these two elements to each other, as found by analysis. 


{ 
ae 
/ y 2 { ol 


/ 


OF ORGANIC TISSUES. 127 


amount of carbon, more oxygen than the consti- 
tuents of blood. During their formation, oxygen, 
either from the atmosphere or from the elements 
of water, has been added to the elements of pro- 
teine. In hair and gelatinous membrane we ob- 
serve, further, an excess of nitrogen and hydrogen, 
and that in the proportions to form ammonia. 

Chemists are not yet agreed on the question, in 
what manner the elements of sulphate of potash are 
arranged ; it would therefore be going too far, were 
they to pronounce arterial membrane a hydrate of 
proteine, chondrine a hydrated oxide of proteine, 
and hair and membranes compounds of ammonia 
with oxides of proteine. 

The above formule express with precision the 
differences of composition in the chief constituents 
of the animal body; they shew, that for the same 
amount of carbon the proportion of the other ele- 
ments varies, and how much more oxygen or nitro- 
gen one compound contains than another. 

18. By means of these formulz we can trace the 
production of the different compounds from the 
constituents of blood; but the explanation of their 
production may take two forms, and we have to 
decide which of these comes nearest to the truth. 

For the same amount of carbon, membranes and 
the tissues which yield gelatine contain more nitro- 
gen, oxygen, and hydrogen than proteine. It is 
conceivable that they are formed from albumen by 
the addition of oxygen, of the elements of water, 


128 GELATINE CONTAINS NO PROTEINE. 


and of those of ammonia, accompanied by the sepa- 
ration of sulphur and phosphorus; at all events, 
their composition is entirely different from that of 
the chief constituents of blood. 

The action of caustic alkalies on the tissues yield- 
ing gelatine shews distinctly that they no longer 
contain proteine ; that substance cannot in any way 
be obtained from them ; and all the products formed 
by the action of alkalies on them differ entirely 
from those produced by the compounds of proteine 
in the same circumstances. Whether proteine exist, 
ready formed, in fibrine, albumen, and caseine, or 
not, it is certain that their elements, under the in- 
fluence of the alkali, arrange themselves so as to 
form proteine ; but this property is wanting in the 
elements of the tissues which yield gelatine. 

The other, and perhaps the more probable expla- 
nation of the production of these tissues from pro- 
teine, is that which makes it dependent on a sepa- 
ration of carbon. 

If we assume the nitrogen of proteine to remain 
entire in the gelatinous tissue, then the composition 
of the latter, calculated on 6 equivalents of nitrogen, 
would be represented by the formula, C,,N5H,,0,,. 
This formula approaches most closely to the analysis 
of Scherer, although it is not an exact expression of 
his results. A formula corresponding more per- 
fectly to the analyses, is C,.N;H,,O,.; or, calculated 
according to Mulder’s analysis, C,,N )H,.0.).* 

* The formula C;,NsH,Ox», adopted by Mulder, gives, when 


ORIGIN OF GELATINE. 129 


According to the first formula, carbon and hydro- 
gen have been separated; according to the two 
last, a certain proportion of all the elements has 
been removed. 

19. We must admit, as the most important re- 
sult of the study of the composition of gelatinous 
tissue, and as a point undeniably established, that, 
although formed from compounds of proteine, it no 
longer belongs to the series of the compounds of 
proteine. Its chemical characters and composition 
justify this conclusion. 

No fact is as yet opposed to the law, deduced 
from observation, that nature has exclusively des- 
tined compounds of proteine for the production of 
blood. 

No substance analogous to the tissues yielding 
gelatine is found in vegetables. The gelatinous 
substance is not a compound of proteine; it con- 
tains no sulphur, no phosphorus, and it contains 
more nitrogen or less carbon than proteine. The 
compounds of proteine, under the influence of the 
vital energy of the organs which form the blood, 
assume a new form, but are not altered in composi- 
tion; while these organs, as far as our experience 
reaches, do not possess the power of producing 
compounds of proteine, by virtue of any influence, 
out of substances which contain no proteine. Ani- 
mals which were fed exclusively with gelatine, the 
reduced to 100 parts, too little nitrogen to be considered an exact 
expression of his analyses. 

K 


130 ORIGIN OF GELATINE. 


most highly nitrogenised element of the food of 
carnivora, died with the symptoms of starvation; in 
short, the gelatinous tissues are incapable of conver- 
sion into blood. 

But there is no doubt that these tissues are 
formed from the constituents of the blood; and we 
can hardly avoid entertaining the supposition, that 
the fibrine of venous blood, in becoming arterial 
fibrine, passes through the first stage of conversion 
into gelatinous tissue. We cannot, with much pro- 
bability, ascribe to membranes and tendons the 
power of forming themselves out of matters brought 
by the blood; for how could any matter become a 
portion of cellular tissue, for example, by virtue of 
a foree which has as yet no organ? An already 
existing cell may possess the power of reproducing 
or of multiplying itself, but in both cases the pre- 
sence of a substance identical in composition with 
cellular tissue is essential. Such matters are formed 
in the organism, and nothing can be better fitted 
for their production than the substance of the cells 
and membranes which exist in animal food, and 
become soluble in the stomach during digestion, or 
which are taken by man in a soluble form. 

20. In the following pages I offer to the reader 
an attempt to develope analytically the principal 
metamorphoses which occur in the animal body; 
and, to preclude all misapprehension, I do this with 
a distinct protest against all conclusions and deduc- 
tions which may now or at any subsequent period be 


METAMORPHOSIS OF TISSUES. 131 


derived from it in opposition to the views developed 
in the preceding part of this work, with which it 
has no manner of connection. The results here to 
be described have surprised me no less than they 
will others, and have excited in my mind the same 
doubts as others will conceive ; but they are not the 
creations of fancy, and I give them because I enter- 
tain the deep conviction that the method which has 
led to them is the only one by which we can hope 
to acquire insight into the nature of the organic 
processes. 

The numberless qualitative investigations of ani- 
mal matters which are made are equally worthless 
for physiology and for chemistry, so long as they are 
not instituted with a well-defined object, or to answer 
a question clearly put. 

If we take the letters of a sentence which we wish 
to decipher, and place them in a line, we advance 
not a step towards the discovery of their meaning. 
To resolve an enigma, we must have a perfectly clear 
conception of the problem. ‘There are many ways 
to the highest pinnacle of a mountain; but those 
only can hope to reach it who keep the summit 
constantly in view. All our labour and all our 
efforts, if we strive to attain it through a morass, 
only serve to cover us more completely with mud ; 
our progress is impeded by difficulties of our own 
creation, and at last even the greatest strength 
must give way when so absurdly wasted. 

21. If it be true that all parts of the body are 

K 2 


132 THE SECRETIONS CONTAIN 


formed and developed from the blood or the con- 
stituents of the blood, that the existing organs at 
every moment of life are transformed into new com- 
pounds under the influence of the oxygen introduced 
in the blood, then the animal secretions must of 
necessity contain the products of the metamorphosis 
of the tissues. 

22. If it be further true, that the urine con- 
tains those products of metamorphosis which contain 
the most nitrogen, and the bile those which are 
richest in carbon, from all the tissues which in the 
vital process have been transformed into unorganised 
compounds, it is clear that the elements of the bile 
and of the urine, added together, must be equal, in 
the relative proportion of these elements to the com- 
position of the blood. 

23. The organs are formed from the blood, and 
contain the elements of the blood; they become 
transformed into new compounds, with the addition 
only of oxygen and of water. Hence the relative 
proportion of carbon and nitrogenmust be the same 
as in the blood. 

If then we subtract from the composition of blood 
the elements of the urine, then the remainder, de- 
ducting the oxygen and water which have been 
added, must give the composition of the bile. 

Or if from the elements of the blood, we subtract 
the elements of the bile, the remainder must give 
the composition of urate of ammonia, or of urea 
and carbonic acid. | 


ALL THE ELEMENTS OF THE BLOOD. 133 


It will surely appear remarkable that this manner 
of viewing the subject has led to the true formula 
of bile, or, to speak more accurately, to the most 
correct empirical expression of its composition ; 
and has furnished the key to its metamorphoses, 
under the influence of acids and alkalies, which had 
previously been sought for in vain. 

24. When fresh drawn blood is made to trickle 
over a plate of silver, heated to 140°, it dries to 
a red, varnish-like matter, easily reduced to pow- 
der. Muscular flesh, free from fat, if dried first in 
a gentle héat, and then at 212°, yields a brown, 
pulverizable mass. 

The analyses of PLayrarr and BoECKMANN (28) 
give for flesh (fibrine, albumen, cellular tissue, and 
nerves) and for blood, as the most exact expres- 
sion of their numerical results, one and the same 
formula, namely, C,,N,H,,0,,, This may be called 
the empirical formula of blood. 

25. The chief constituent of bile, according 
to the researches of DEMaARcAyY, is a compound, 
analogous to soaps, of soda with a peculiar sub- 
stance, which has been named choleice acid. This 
acid is obtained in combination with oxide of lead, 
when bile, purified by means of alcohol from all 
matters insoluble in that menstruum, is mixed with 
acetate of lead. 

Choleie acid is resolved, by the action of muriatie 
acid, into ammonia, taurine, and a new acid, cholo- 


idic acid, which contains no nitrogen. 


134 METAMORPHOSES OF BILE. 


When boiled with caustic potash, choleic acid 
is resolved into carbonic acid, ammonia, and another 
new acid, cholic acid (distinct from the cholic acid 
of Gmelin). 

Now it is clear that the true formula of choleic 
acid must include the analytical expression of these 
modes of decomposition; in other words, that it 
must enable us to shew that the composition of the 
products derived from it is related, in a clear and 
simple manner, to the composition of the acid itself. 
This is the only satisfactory test of a formula; and 
the analytical expression thus obtained loses nothing 
of its truth or value, if it should appear, as the re- 
searches of BERZELIUS seem to shew, that choleic 
and choloidic acids are mixtures of different com- 
pounds; for the relative proportions of the ele- 
ments cannot in any way be altered by this cireum- 
stance. 

26. In order to develope the metamorphoses 
which choleic acid suffers under the influence of 
acids and alkalies, the following formula alone can 
be adopted as the empirical expression of the results 
of its analysis. 


Formula of choleic acid : C;,;N,;H O02. (29) 


I repeat, that this formula may express the com- 
position of one, or of two or more compounds ; 
no matter of how many compounds the so-called 
choleic acid may be made up, the above formula 
represents the relative proportions of all their ele- 
ments taken together. 


METAMORPHOSES OF BILE. 135 


If now we subtract from the elements of choleic 
acid, the products formed by the action of muriatic 
acid, namely, ammonia and taurine, we obtain the 
empirical formula of choloidic acid. Thus: from the 

Formula of choleic acid ..........+. C,,N-H O02 


Subtract— 


1 atom taurine......... CANELO.. 
a C, NH O10 


lyeqs ammonia.2ici ts; NH; 


There remains the formula of cho- 
Wee ACI. wees scdanotsacenoscs = C,, H;,O,. (80) 


27. Again, if from the formula of choleic acid 
we subtract the elements of urea and 2 atoms of 
water (= 2 eq. carbonic acid and 2 eq. ammonia), 
there will remain the formula and composition of 
cholie acid. Thus; from the 


Formula of choleic acid ............ = C,,N2H,.022 
subtract— 
2 eq. carbonic acid = C, 


O 
oe i = Cc N.H, QO, 


2 eq. ammonia = N, 


Remains the formulaof cholicacid = Cz, HgOis (381) 


When we consider the very close coincidence be- 
tween these formule and the actual results of ana- 
lysis (see Appendix, 29, 30, 31), it is scarcely possible 
to doubt that the formula above adopted for choleic 
acid expresses, as accurately as is to be expected in 
the analysis of such compounds, the relative propor- 
tion of its elements, no matter in how many difter- 
ent forms they may be united to produce that acid. 

28. Let us now add the half of the numbers 
which represent the formula of choleic acid, to the 


136 RELATION OF BILE TO FIBRINE. 


elements of the urine of serpents—that is, to neu- 
tral urate of ammonia, as follows : 
3 the formula of choleic acid...... = C3,N H3;0n 


Add to this— 
] eq. UWEIC ACICS << cee a CiNE.O, | C oN, EL O, 
1 eq. ammonia...... = N H; 


MME SUM 1S oe cseiepessenectsasceeces == Ou Noe 


29. But this last formula expresses the composi- 
tion of blood, with the addition of 1 eq. oxygen and 
1 eq. water. 

HormalarOl b1GOd .. ash sssacenissinncsectecdes: apes 


1 eq. Water seeceereeeeerereee = HO] _ HO 
EQ OMVC Macs ceadescaee-sece' — 0 ' 
Me SUM IS 5c. secsevasssces oy esare coves = CNH 0), 


30. If, moreover, we add to the elements of pro- 
teine those of 3 eq. water, we obtain, with the ex- 
ception of 1 eq. hydrogen, exactly the same formula. 


Formula Of proteine....<lssss0+seees = CNG, 
Add S1eq- Of Water bE. ie vecensecsece = He 0: 


MWe SuIMIS® 25k ted iece cokes ieee CusN¢H3901, 


differing only by 1 eq. of hydrogen from the formula 
above obtained by adding together choleic acid and 
urate of ammonia. 

31. If, then, we consider choleic acid and urate 
of ammonia the products of the transformation of 
muscular fibre, since no other tissue in the body 
contains proteine (for albumen passes into tissues, 
without our being able to say, that in the vital pro- 
cess it is directly resolved into choleic acid, and 
urate of ammonia), there exist in fibrine, with the 


OXIDATION OF URIC ACID. 137 


addition of the elements of water, all the elements 
essential to this metamorphosis; and, except the 
sulphur and phosphorus, both of which are probably 
oxidised, no element is separated. 

This form of metamorphosis is applicable to the 
vital transformations in the lower classes of amphi- 
bia, and perhaps in worms and insects. In the 
higher classes of animals the uric acid disappears in 
the urine, and is replaced by urea. 

The disappearance of uric acid and the production 
of urea plainly stand in a very close relation to the 
amount of oxygen absorbed in respiration, and to 
the quantity of water consumed by different animals 
in a given time. 

When uric acid is subjected to the action of 
oxygen, it is first resolved, as is well known, into 
alloxan and urea. (32) A new supply of oxygen 
acting on the alloxan causes it to resolve itself 
either into oxalic acid and urea, into oxalurie and 
parabanic acids, (55) or into carbonic acid and urea. 

32. In the so-called mulberry calculi we find 
oxalate of lime, in other calculi urate of ammonia, 
and always in persons, in whom, from want of ex- 
ercise and labour, or from other causes, the supply 
of oxygen has been diminished. Calculi containing 
uric acid or oxalic acid are never found in phthisical 
patients ; and it is a common occurrence in France, 
among patients suffering from calculous complaints, 
that when they go to the country, where they take 
more exercise, the compounds of uric acid, which 


138 URIC ACID AND UREA DERIVED 


were deposited in the bladder during their residence 
in town, are succeeded by oxalates (mulberry calcu~ 
lus), in consequence of the increased supply of oxy- 
gen. With a still greater supply of oxygen they 
would have yielded, in healthy subjects, only the 
last product of the oxidation of uric acid, namely, 
carbonic acid and urea. 

An erroneous interpretation of the undeniable 
fact that all substances incapable of further use in 
the organism are separated by the kidneys and ex- 
pelled from the body in the urine, altered or 
unaltered, has led practical medical men to the 
idea, that the food, and especially nitrogenised food, 
may have a direct influence on the formation of 
urinary calculi. There are no reasons which support 
this opinion, while those opposed to it are innume- 
rable. It is possible that there may be taken, in 
the food, a number of matters changed by the 
culinary art, which, as being no longer adapted to 
the formation of blood, are expelled in the urine, 
more or less altered by the respiratory process. But 
roasting and boiling alter in no way the composition 
of animal food. (34) 

Boiled and roasted flesh is converted at once into 
blood; while the uric acid and urea are derived 
from the metamorphosed tissues. The quantity of 
these products increases with the rapidity of trans- 
formation in a given time, but bears no proportion 
to the amount of food taken in the same period. In 
a starving man who is any way compelled to undergo 


FROM THE METAMORPHOSED TISSUES. 139 


severe and continued exertion, more urea is secreted 
than in the most highly fed individual, if in a state 
of rest. In fevers and during rapid emaciation the 
urine contains more urea than in the state of health. 
(Provt.) 

33. In the same way, therefore, as the hippuric 
acid, present in the urine of the horse when at rest, 
is converted into benzoate of ammonia and carbonic 
acid as soon as the animal is compelled to labour, 
so the uric acid disappears in the urine of man, 
when he receives, through the skin and lungs, a 
quantity of oxygen sufficient to oxidise the products 
of the transformation of the tissues. The use of 
wine and fat, which are only so far altered in the 
organism that they combine with oxygen, has a 
marked influence on the formation of uric acid. 
The urine, after fat food has been taken, is turbid, 
and deposits minute crystals of uric acid. (PRovt.) 
The same thing is observed after the use of wines 
in which the alkali necessary to retain the uric acid 
in solution is wanting, but never from the use of 
Rhenish wines, which contain so much tartar. 

In animals which drink much water, by means of 
which the sparingly soluble uric acid is kept dis- 
solved, so that the inspired oxygen can act on it, no 
uric acid is found in the urine, but only urea. In 
birds, which seldom drink, uric acid predominates. 

If to 1 atom of uric acid we add 6 atoms of oxy- 
gen and 4 atoms of water, it resolves itself into urea 
-and carbonic acid : 


\ 


140 RELATION OF BLOOD TO URINE. 


1 at. uric acid C,,N,H,O, 
ae a ea 2 Wats MICA sees t nescle C, N,H,O, 
Bat. et H,Ow{ |6 at. carbonic acid C, Or, 
C,0NHs04¢ CioNsHsOy6 

34. The urine of the herbivora contains no uric 
acid, but ammonia, urea, and hippuric or benzoic 
acid. By the addition of 9 atoms of oxygen to the 
empirical formula of their blood multiplied by 5, we 
obtain the elements of 6 at. of hippuric acid, 9 
at. of urea, 3 at. of choleic acid, 3 at. of water, and 
3 at. of ammonia; or, if we suppose 45 atoms of 
oxygen to be added to the blood during its meta- 
morphosis, then we obtain 6 at. of benzoic acid, 
134 at. of urea, 3 at. of choleic acid, 15 at. of car- 
bonie acid, and 12 at. of water. 


5 (CygsNgH390,;) + O, == Coro N 30H 95054 
6 at. hippuric acid, 6 (C,,N H, O; ) = CygNg His On 


tat. UlEa! o & eee hkic 9 (C,;N.H, O,) = Ci, N;,Ha, Ox 
===( Sat. choleic acid, 3 (C,,N.H,,0,;),—=, CNet Oe 
3at.ammonia ...3( NH; ) = N.. HB; 
BAGS WACED wicteen cone 3 ( H, O, ). = H; G; 
Gche SUN IS" Vass Josue eaesed covets aces Cag Nepblco On 
or— 


5 (CysN 6H 390)5) =e O,; ae CosoN 30H 1950120 
| 6 at. benzoic acid 6 (C,, H;O,;) = Cy Ha O15 


272 at urea eeerecece 27 (C NH, O ) — Cy NHs4 Oy 

=—({ 8at.choleicacid 3 (C,.NH2;0,) = CysN3 Hog O33 
15 at. carbonic acid, 15 (C Oe Ovs 

AD at. Watehcccsccss 12. os atl sO.) — Hh, On, 
Phe SUI: 1594. 5. bes padiecian s Sasi Canis Na bie: Oi 


35. Lastly, let us follow the metamorphosis of 


RELATION OF PROTEINE TO ALLANTOINE. 141] 


the tissues in the foetal calf, considering the pro- 
teine furnished in the blood of the mother as the 
substance which undergoes or has undergone a 
transformation ; it will appear that 2 at. of pro- 
teine, without the addition of oxygen or any other 
foreign element, except 2 at. of water, contain the 
elements of 6 at. of allantoine and 1 at. of cholo- 
idic acid. (meconium %) 
2 at. proteine=2 (C,,N,H;,0,,) + 2at. water = 2 HO—C,.N,2H,,05, 
a i at. allantoine, 6 (C,N,H;0;) = C..N,2H,,O,5 
1 at. choloidic acid — Cn Hie 
CygN 12H ,O49 
36. But the elements of the six atoms of al- 
lantoine in the last equation correspond exactly to 
the elements of 2 at. of uric acid, 2 at. of urea, 
and 2 at. of water. 


2 at. uric acid CN, H, Oj. 
6 at. of allantoine = C,,N,2H,;O;; -| 2 at. urea C, N; HzO; 


2 at. water H,:0; 


C.4N12H)sOis 
The relations of allantoine, which is found in the 
urine of the foetal calf, to the nitrogenised con- 
stituents of the urine in animals which respire, are, 
as may be seen by comparing the above formule, 
such as cannot be overlooked or doubted. Allan- 
toine contains the elements of uric acid and urea— 
that is, of the nitrogenised products of the transfor- 
mation of the compounds of proteine. 
37. Further, if to the formula of proteine, multi- 
plied by 3, we add the elements of 4 at. of water, 


142 RELATION OF PROTEINE TO GELATINE. 


and if we deduct from the sum of all the elements 
half of the elements of choloidie acid, there remains 
a formula which expresses very nearly the composi- 
tion of gelatine. From 


3 (CygsN¢H 36044) + aes. Cy jgHy120 45 
Subtract $ at. choloidic acid = C,, H,, O; 


Phere TEMA: «0c. c0ceaaes CrosNisH Ow (35) 


38. Subtracting from this formula of gelatine 
the elements of 2 at. of proteine, there remain the 
elements of urea, uric acid, and water, or of 3 at. of 
allantoine and 3 at. of water. Thus— 


Formula of gelatine (Mulder) Cy,N,;H;O. 


Subtract 2 at. proteine ...... C o6N12H72023 
Where temaing :i0<2 he C pN 5H2,0O. = 
pi at. uric acid C,,N,H, O, | : a ataeee 
=e aGmmea: «2 Moot Es seo 3 at. allantorme “Ci, pe eS 
\4 at. water HO; [3 BES REIS ee 2 8 
C,.N.Hi20)2 C.2N6H i202 


39. The numerical proportions calculated from 
the above formula differ from those actually ob- 
tained in the analyses of MuLDER and SCHERER in 
this, that the latter indicate somewhat less of nitro- 
gen in gelatine; but if we assume the formula to 
be correct, it then appears, from the statement just 
given, that the elements of two atoms of proteine, 
plus the nitrogenised products of the transformation 
of a third atom of proteine (uric acid and urea) and 
water; or three atoms of proteine, minus the ele- 
ments of a compound containing no nitrogen, which 


ORIGIN OF GELATINE. 143 


actually occurs as one of the products of the trans- 
formation of choleic acid, yield in both cases a for- 
mula closely approaching to the composition of 
gelatinous tissues. We must, however, attach to 
such formule, and to the considerations arising from 
them, no more importance than justly belongs to 
them. I would constantly remind the reader that 
their use is to serve as points of connection, which 
may enable us to acquire more accurate views as to 
the production and decemposition of those com- 
pounds which form the animal tissues. They are 
the first attempts to discover the path which we 
must follow in order to attain the object of our re- 
searches; and this object, the goal we strive to 
reach, is, and must be, attainable. 

The experience of all those who have occupied 
themselves with researches into natural phenomena 
leads to this general result, that these phenomena 
are caused, or produced, by means far more simple 
than was previously supposed, or than we even 
now imagine; and it is precisely their simplicity 
which should most powerfully excite our wonder 
and admiration. 

Gelatinous tissue is formed from blood, from 
compounds of proteine. It may be produced by 
the addition, to the elements of proteine, of allan- 
toine and water, or of water, urea, and uric acid; 
or by the separation from the elements of proteine 
of a compound containing no nitrogen. The solu- 
tion of such problems becomes less difficult, when 


144 ORIGIN OF THE BILE. 


the problem to be solved, the question to be an- 
swered, is matured and clearly put. Every experi- 
mental decision of any such question in the nega- 
tive forms the starting-point of a new question, the 
solution of which, when obtained, is the necessary 
consequence of our having put the first question. 

40. In the foregoing sections, no other consti- 
tuent of the bile, besides choleic acid, has been 
brought into the calculation; because it alone is 
known with certainty to contain nitrogen. Now, if 
it be admitted that its nitrogen is derived from the 
metamorphosed tissues, it is not improbable that 
the carbon, and other elements which it contains, 
are derived from the same source. 

There cannot be the smallest doubt, that in the 
carnivora, the constituents of the urine and the bile 
are derived from the transformation of compounds 
of proteine; for, except fat, they consume no food 
but such as contains proteine, or has been formed 
from that substance. Their food is identical with 
their blood; and itis amatter of indifference which 
of the two we select as the starting-point of the 
chemical developement of the vital metamorphoses. 

There can be no greater contradiction, with re- 
gard to the nutritive process, than to suppose that 
the nitrogen of the food can pass into the urine as 
urea, Without having previously become part of an 
organized tissue ; for albumen, the only constituent 
of blood, which, from its amount, ought to be taken 
into consideration, suffers not the slightest change 


ORIGIN OF THE BILE. 145 


in passing through the liver or kidneys; we find it 
in every part of the body with the same appearance 
and the same properties. These organs cannot be 
adapted for the alteration or decomposition of the 
substance from which all the other organs of the 
body are to be formed. 

41. From the characters of chyle and lymph, it 
appears with certainty that the soluble parts of the 
food or of the chyme acquire the form of albumen. 
Hard-boiled white of egg, boiled or coagulated 
fibrine, which have again become soluble in the 
stomach, but have lost their coagulability by the 
action of air or heat, recover these properties by de- 
grees. In the chyle, the acid re-action of the chyme 
has already passed into the weak alkaline re-action 
of the blood; and the chyle, when, after passing 
through the mesenteric glands, it has reached the 
thoracic duct, contains albumen coagulable by heat ; 
and, when left to itself, deposits fibrine. All the 
compounds of proteine, absorbed during the passage 
of the chyme through the intestinal canal, take the 
form of albumen, which, as the results of incubation 
in the fowl’s egg testify, contains the fundamental 
elements of all organized tissues, with the exception 
of iron, which is obtained from other sources. 

Practical medicine has long ago answered the 
question, what becomes in man of the compounds of 
proteine taken in excess, what change is undergone 
by the superabundant nitrogenised food ? The blood- 
vessels are distended with excess of blood, the other 

L 


146 ORIGIN OF THE BILE 


vessels with excess of their fluids, and if the too 
great supply of food be kept up, and the blood, or 
other fluids adapted for forming blood, be not applied 
to their natural purposes, if the soluble matters be 
not taken up by the proper organs, various gases 
are disengaged, as in processes of putrefaction, the 
excrements assume an altered quality in colour, 
smell, &e. Should the fluids in the absorbent and 
lymphatic vessels undergo a similar decomposition, 
this is immediately visible in the blood, and the nu- 
tritive process then assumes new forms. 

42. No one of all these appearances should occur, 
if the liver and kidneys were capable of effecting the 
resolution of the superabundant compounds of pro- 
teine into urea, uric acid, and bile. All the observa- 
tions which have been made in reference to the 
influence of nitrogenised food on the composition of 
the urine have failed entirely to demonstrate the 
existence of any direct influence of the kind ; for the 
phenomena are susceptible of another and a far more 
simple interpretation, if, along with the food, we con- 
sider the mode of life and habits of the individuals 
who have been the subjects of investigation. Gravel 
and calculus occur in persons who use very little 
animal food. Concretions of uric acid have never 
yet been observed in carnivorous mammalia, living 
in the wild state,* and among nations which live 


* The occurrence of urate of ammonia in a concretion found in 
a doz 


oO? 


Lassaigne extracted it himself from the bladder of the animal, 


which was examined by Lassaigne, is to be doubted, unless 


IN THE HERBIVORA. 147 


entirely on flesh, deposits of uric acid concretions 
in the limbs or in the bladder are utterly unknown. 

43. That which must be viewed as an undeniable 
truth in regard to the origin of the bile, or, more 
accurately speaking, of choleic acid in the carnivora, 
cannot hold in regard to all the constituents of the 
bile secreted by the liver in the herbivora, for with 
the enormous quantity of bile produced, for example, 
by the liver of an ox, it is absolutely impossible to 
suppose that all its carbon is derived from the me- 
tamorphosed tissues. 

Assuming the 590z. of dry bile (from 37 lbs. of 
fresh bile secreted by an ox) to contain the same per- 
centage of nitrogen as choleic acid (3°86 per cent.), 
this would amount to nearly 240z. of nitrogen; and 
if this nitrogen proceed from metamorphosed tissues, 
then, if all the carbon of these tissues passed into 
the bile, it would yield, at the utmost, a quantity of 
bile corresponding to 7:150z. of carbon. This is, 
however, far below the quantity which, according to 
observation, is secreted in this class of animals. 

44. Other substances, besides compounds of pro- 
teine, must inevitably take part in the formation of 
bile in the organism of the herbivora; and these 
substances can only be the non-nitrogenised con- 
stituents of their food. 

45. The sugar of bile of Gmelin (picromel or 
biline of Berzelius), which Berzelius considers as 
the chief constituent of bile, while Demargay as- 
signs that place essentially to choleic acid, burns, 

L 2 


148 STARCH, &c. CONTRIBUTE TO THE 


when heated in the air, like resin, yields ammoniacal 
products, and when treated with acids, yields taurine 
and the products of the decomposition of choleic 
acid ; when acted on by alkalies, it yields ammonia 
and cholic acid. At all events, the sugar of bile 
contains nitrogen, and much less oxygen than starch 
or sugar, but more oxygen than the oily acids. 
When, in the metamorphosis of sugar of bile or 
choleic acid by alkalies, we cause the separation of 
the nitrogen, we obtain a crystallized acid, very 
similar to the oily acids (cholic acid), and capable 
of forming with bases salts, which have the general 
characters of soaps. Nay, we may even consider 
the chief constituents of the bile, sugar of bile and 
choleic acid, as compounds of oily acids with organic 
oxides, like the fat oils, and only differing from 
these in containing no oxide of glycerule. Choleic 
acid, for example, may be viewed as a compound of 
choloidice acid with allantoine and water : 


Choloidic acid. Allantoime. Water. Choleic acid. 
C72H55012 + C,N.H;0; + H,0, = Cz5N2H 66022 


Or as a compound of cholic acid, urea, and water: 


Cholic acid. Urea. Water. Choleic acid. 
C,H 69015 + C.N;H,0, + H,O, = C,.N2-H Ox 


46. If, in point of fact, as can hardly be doubted, 
the elements of such substances as starch, sugar, 
&c., take part in the production of bile in the 
organism of the herbivora, there is nothing opposed 
to such a view in the composition of the chief 


FORMATION OF BILE IN HERBIVORA. 149 


constituents of bile, as far as our knowledge at 
present extends. 

If starch be the chief agent in this process, it 
can happen in no other way but this—that, as when 
it passes into fat, a certain quantity of oxygen is 
separated from the elements of the starch, which, 
for the same amount of carbon (for 72 atoms), con- 
tains five times as much oxygen as choloidic acid. 

Without the separation of oxygen from the ele- 
ments of starch, it is impossible to conceive its 
conversion into bile; and this separation being ad- 
mitted, its conversion into a compound interme- 
diate in composition between starch and fat offers 
no difficulty. 

47. Not to render these considerations a mere 
idle play with formule, and not to lose sight of our 
chief object, we observe, therefore, that the consi- 
deration of the quantitative proportion of the bile 
secreted in the herbivora leads to the following 
conclusions :— 

The chief constituents of the bile of the herbi- 
vora contain nitrogen, and this nitrogen is derived 
from compounds of proteine. 

The bile of this class of animals contains more 
carbon than ‘corresponds to the quantity of nitro- 
genised food taken, or to the portion of tissue that 
has undergone metamorphosis in the vital process. 

A part of this carbon must, therefore, be derived 
from the non-nitrogenised parts of the food (starch, 
sugar, &c.); and in order to be converted into a 


150 PRODUCTION OF HIPPURIC ACID 


nitrogenised constituent of bile, a part of the ele- 
ments of these bodies must necessarily have com- 
bined with a nitrogenised compound derived from a 
compound of proteine. 

In reference to this conclusion, it is quite indif- 
ferent whether that compound of proteine be de- 
rived from the food or from the tissues of the body. 

48. It has very lately been stated by A. Ure, 
that benzoic acid, when administered internally, 
appears in the urine in the form of hippuric acid. 

Should this observation be confirmed,* it will ac- 
quire great physiological significance, since it would 
plainly prove that the act of transformation of the 
tissues in the animal body, under the influence of 
certain matters taken in the food, assumes a new 
form with respect to the products which are its 
result ; for hippuric acid contains the elements of 
lactate of urea, with the addition of those of benzoic 
acid : 


l atures s. 2 os C, NAA, O; 
I at. lactic acid... C; H,O, 
2 at. benzoic acid C,, Hy,O, 


[2 at. crystallized hippuric acid 
ie: 2 (C\,sNH,O¢) 


C36N2H,,015 
AQ. If we consider the act of transformation of 
the tissues in the herbivora as we have done in the 


* The analysis of the crystals deposited from the urine on the 
addition of muriatic acid has not been performed. Besides, the 
statement of A. Ure, that hippuric acid, dissolved in nitric acid, 
is reddened by ammonia, is erroneous, and shews that the crys- 


tals he obtained must have contained uric acid. 


IN THE URINE OF HERBIVORA. 151 


carnivora, then the blood of the former must yield, 
as the last products of the metamorphosis, from all 
the organs taken together, choleic acid, uric acid, 
and ammonia (see p. 136); and if we ascribe to the 
uric acid an action similar to that of the benzoic 
acid in Ure’s observation—such, namely, that the 
further transformation, owing to the presence of 
this acid, assumes another form, the elements of the 
uric acid being incorporated in the final products— 
it will appear, for example, that 2 at. of proteine, 
with the addition of the elements of 3 at. of uric 
acid and 2 at. of oxygen, might give rise to the pro- 
duction of hippuric acid and urea. 


2 at. proteine, 2 (C,,N;H;,014) =— Cr N,2H O25 
3 at. uric acid, 3 (C,)N4H, O, ) — Cat Niel O:. 


2 at. oxygen — O, 
FEDESUM IS. seasismecwcmnaee. = Gypop Note ye 
(6 at. hippuric acid, 6 (CysN H303) = CyosN¢ HisOs0 
as ig! Gis Wired serscesss 9 (C, NjH,O,) = Cig NisH3gOg 
The sum is coerce ree ceoescese == G.,,.No,H..0. 


50. Finally, if we bear in mind, that, in the her- 
bivora, the non-nitrogenised constituents of their 
food (starch, &c.) must, as we have shewn, play an 
essential part in the formation of the bile; that to 
their elements must of necessity be added those of 
a nitrogenised compound, in order to produce the 
nitrogenised constituents of the bile, the most strik- 
ing result of the combinations thus suggested is 
this, that the elements of starch added to those of 


152 PRODUCTION OF THE CHIEF 


hippuric acid are equal to the elements of choleic 
acid, plus a certain quantity of carbonic acid: 


2 at. hippuric acid, 2 (C,, NH, O; ) = CssN2-HigOi, 
Svat hstarchiuin 3s. 5 5 (C4 TOW = Ca) BOs 
2ont. OXVECH: ....5.- = O, 

The sum is COCs eter eseeseeres sd CyNsHG Os 


{ 2at.choleic acid 2 (C33NH330,,;) = Cz5N2H 022 
~ [20 at. carbonic acid 20 (C O,) = Cay oO; 


Dlig sum Ws 249.062 sete e..seo = C,,.N.H,.O¢ 


51. Now, since hippuric acid may be derived, 
along with urea, from the compounds of proteine, 
when to the elements of the latter are added those 
of uric acid (see p. 151); since, further, uric acid, 
choleic acid, and ammonia contain the elements of 
proteine in a proportion almost identical with that 
of proteine itself (see p. 136); it is obvious that, if 
from 5 at. of proteine, with the addition of oxygen 
and of the elements of water, there be removed the 
elements of choleic acid and ammonia, the re- 
mainder will represent the elements of hippuric 
acid and of urea; and that if, when this separation 
occurs, and during the further transformation, the 
elements of starch be present and enter into the 
new products, we shall obtain an additional quantity 
of choleic acid, as well as a certain amount of car- 
bonic acid gas. 

That is to say—that if the elements of proteine and 
starch, oxygen and water being also present, undergo 
transformation together and mutually affect each other, 
we obtain, as the products of this metamorphosis, urea, 


SECRETIONS AND EXCRETIONS. 153 


choleie acid, ammonia, and carbonic acid, and besides 
these, no other product whatever. 
The elements of 


5 at. proteine 9 at. choleic acid 
15 at. starch 9 at. urea 
12 at. water {| 3 at. ammonia 

5 at. oxygen 60 at. carbonic acid 
In detail— 


5 at. proteine, 5 (CyNgH3,04) = CowNaHiaO7 


12 at. water, 12 ( no) — Hy Oi 

5 at. oxygen = O; 
The sum is seer eereseeseseseee a Crp NaH32023, 

and— 
Suatoumeas .didia. 9 (C, N.H, O2 ) = Cig NigH35 Or, 
3 at. ammonia, ... 3( NH; )= N; H, 

60 at. carbonic acid, 60 (C O, ). = Ca Oj 
cans agate ver gtn< ecto > aa52 = C,NyHz.02, 


The transformation of the compounds of proteine 
present in the body is effected by means of the 
oxygen conveyed by the arterial blood, and if the 
elements of starch, rendered soluble in the stomach, 
and thus carried to every part, enter into the newly 
formed compounds, we have the chief constituents 
of the animal secretions and excretions; carbonic 
acid, the excretion of the lungs, urea and carbonate 
of ammonia, excreted by the kidneys, and choleic 
acid, secreted by the liver. 

Nothing, therefore, in the chemical composition 
of those matters which may be supposed to- take a 


154 SODA ESSENTIAL TO THE 


share in these metamorphoses, is opposed to the 
supposition that a part of the carbon of the non- 
azotised food enters into the composition of the bile. 

52. Fat, in the animal body, disappears when 
the supply of oxygen is abundant. When that sup- 
ply is deficient, choleic acid may be converted into 
hippuric acid, lithofellic acid, (37) and water.  Li- 
thofellic acid is known to be the chief constituent 
of the bezoar stones, which occur in certain herbi- 
vorous animals : 


2 at. choleic acid C,,N.H,,Ox [ 
- 10 at. oxygen ... Ont 


2 at. hip. acid C3,N,H;,.O,9 
1 at.-lith. acid. -@,;, “Hee 
[14 at. Wales wee Hi 


C,;N2H 5,032 C5N2H 5032 
53. For the production of bile in the animal 
body a certain quantity of soda is, in all cirecum- 
stances, necessary ; without the presence of a com- 
pound of sodium no bile can be formed. In the 
absence of soda, the metamorphosis of the tissues 
composed of proteine can yield only fat and urea, 
If we suppose fat to be composed according to the 
empirical formula C,,H,,O, then, by the addition of 
oxygen and the elements of water to the elements 
of proteine, we have the elements of fat, urea, and 
carbonic acid. 


Proteine. Water. Oxygen. 
2 (CysNsH3,0.,) + 12 HO + 14 O = C,,N,,H,;,0;, = 
[ GpaAle WIFE? Gc ezuu bee == Gio jotta. 
BED al’. 2h ease. och ee =; “Hae 
18 at. carbonic acid = C,, O;, 


CogN 12H 05, 


FORMATION OF THE BILE. 155 


The composition of all fats lies between the em- 
pirical formule C,,H,,O and C,,H,,O. If we adopt 
the latter, then the elements of 2 at. proteine, with 
the addition of 2 at. oxygen and 12 at. water, will 
yield 6 at. urea, fat (C,.H,,O,), and 12 at. carbonic 
acid. 

It is worthy of observation, in reference to the 
production of fat, that the absence of common salt 
(a compound of sodium which furnishes soda to the 
animal organism) is favourable to the formation of 
fat; that the fattening of an animal is rendered 
impossible, when we add to its food an excess of 
salt, although short of the quantity required to pro- 
duce a purgative effect. 

54. Asa kind of general view of the metamor- 
phoses of the nitrogenised animal secretions, atten- 
tion may here be very properly directed to the 
fact, that the nitrogenised products of the transfor- 
mation of the bile are identical in ultimate compo- 
sition with the constituents of the urine, if to the 
latter be added a certain proportion of the elements 
of water: 

I at. uric acid C,,N,H, al 
Peatercay?... C, NO, O, 
22 at. water ... H..0., | ee 

C,2N 6H39O30 CisNgH 3.050 
1 at. allantoine C,N.H,; O; \. f l at. taurme C,N H,O, 
7 at. water ... H, O, me at.ammonia N H, 


CNH yO jo CN2H Oo 


is at. taurine C,,N;H~.,Ox 


3 at. ammonia N;H, 


55. In reference to the metamorphoses of uric 


156 RELATION OF URINE TO BILE. 


acid and of the products of the transformation of 
the bile, it is not less significant, and worthy of 
remark, that the addition of oxygen and the ele- 
ments of water to the elements of uric acid may 
yield either taurine and urea, or taurine, carbonic 
acid, and ammonia. 


1 at. uric acid C,N,H,O 


14 at. water...... ate at. taurine Cs NzHyO2 
O | 1 at. urea ... C, NH O, 
2 


Zvat..oxygen ... 
C,)N,H,,022 CyoNH,s022 
| 2 at. taurine ... Cz; NSHy,Ox 


wig at.carbon.acid C, O,; 


Add 2 at. water HO, 2 at. ammonia N.H, 


CoN iH O02, CyNsH 9024 


56. Alloxan, plus a certain amount of water, is 
identical in the proportion of elements with taurine ; 
and finally, taurine contains the elements of super- 
oxalate of ammonia. 


1 at. alloxan* C,N,H, Oy | Taurine. 
HO f = 2 (CsNH;Oy) 


2 at. oxalic acid C, OF 


10 at. water 


1 at. taurine C,NH,O,, = 1 at. ammonia NH; 
4 at. water... HO; 
C,NH,Oj 


* It would be most interesting to investigate the action of 
alloxan on the human body. ‘Two or three drachms, in crystals, 
had no injurious action on rabbits to which it was given. In 
man, a large dose appeared to act only on the kidneys. In 
certain diseases of the liver, alloxan would very probably be 
found a most powerful remedy.—QJ. L. 


RELATION OF STARCH TO BILE. 157 


57. The comparison of the amount of carbon in 
the bile secreted by an herbivorous animal, with the 
quantity of carbon of its tissues, or of the nitrogen- 
ised constituents of its food, which in consequence 
of the constant transformations may pass into bile, 
indicates, as we have just seen, a great difference. 

The carbon of the bile secreted amounts, at least, 
to more than five times the quantity of that which 
could reach the liver in consequence of the change 
of matter in the body, either from the metamor- 
phosed tissues or from the nitrogenised constituents 
of the food; and we may regard as well founded the 
supposition that the non-azotised constituents of 
the food take a decided share in the production of 
bile in the herbivora; for neither experience nor 
observation contradicts this opinion. 

58. We have given, in the foregoing paragraphs, 
the analytical proof, that the nitrogenised products 
of the transformation of bile, namely, taurine and 
ammonia, may be formed from all the constituents 
of the urine, with the exception of urea—that is, 
from hippuric acid, uric acid, and allantoine; and 
when we bear in mind that, by the mere separation 
of oxygen and the elements of water, choloidie acid 
may be formed from starch ;— 


From 6 at. starch = 6 (C,2:H Oo) = C72H 60060 


Subtract 44 at. oxygen] wv H, Ox 
4 at. water [{ 
Remains choloidic acid ..........+. = C,.H;.Oy ;— 


that, finally, choloidic acid, ammonia, and taurine, 


158 RELATION OF STARCH, &c. TO BILE. 


if added together, contain the elements of choleic 
acid ;— 
1 at. choloidic acid = Cz, H;.O12 


1 at. taurine ...... — C,N H, Oy 
1 ‘at. ammonia ..;. — N H, 
1 at. choleic acid = C,.N2HgO02 << 


if all this be considered, every doubt as to the pos- 
sibility of these changes is removed. 

59. Chemical analysis and the study of the living 
animal body mutually support each other; and 
both lead to the conclusion that a certain portion 
of the carbon of the non-azotised constituents of 
food (of starch, &c., the elements of respiration) 
is secreted by the liver in the form of bile; and 
further, that the nitrogenised products of the trans- 
formation of tissues in the herbivora do not, as in 
the carnivora, reach the kidneys immediately or 
directly, but that, before their expulsion from the 
body in the form of urine, they take a share in cer- 
tain other processes, especially in the formation of 
the bile. 

They are conveyed to the liver with the non- 
azotised constituents of the food; they are returned 
to the circulation in the form of bile, and are not 
expelled by the kidneys till they have thus served 
for the production of the most important of the sub- 
stances employed in respiration. 

60. When the urine is left to itself, the urea 
which it contains is converted into carbonate of 
ammonia; the elements of urea are in such propor- 


ORIGIN OF THE BILE. 159 


tion, that by the addition of the elements of water, 
all its carbon is converted into carbonic acid, and all 
its nitrogen into ammonia. 


1 at. urea C2N2H,02] j: 2 at. carbonic acid C, O, 
2 at. water H.0O, J ‘eee | 2 at. ammonia ... N.H; 


C.N,H,O, C.N.H,O,; 


61. Were we able directly to produce taurine 
and ammonia out of uric acid or allantoine, this 
might perhaps be considered as an additional proof 
of the share which has been ascribed to these com- 
pounds in the production of bile; it cannot, how- 
ever, be viewed as any objection to the views above 
developed on the subject, that, with the means we 
possess, we have not yet succeeded in effecting 
these transformations out of the body. Such an 
objection loses all its foree, when we consider that 
we cannot admit, as proved, the pre-existence of 
taurine and ammonia in the bile; nay, that it is not 
even probable that these compounds, which are 
only known to us as products of the decomposition 
of the bile, exist ready formed, as ingredients of 
that fluid. 

By the action of muriatic acid on bile, we, in a 
manner, force its elements to unite in such forms 
as are no longer capable of change under the influ- 
ence of the same re-agent; and when, instead of 
the acid, we use potash, we obtain the same ele- 
ments, although arranged in another, and quite a 
different manner. If taurine were present, ready 


160 ORIGIN OF THE BILE. 


formed, in bile, we should obtain the same products 
by the action of acids and of alkalies. This, how- 
ever, is contrary to experience. 

Thus, even if we could convert allantoine, or uric 
acid and urea, into taurine and ammonia, out of the 
body, we should acquire no additional insight into 
the true theory of the formation of bile, just because 
the pre-existence of ammonia and taurine in the 
bile must be doubted, and because we have no rea- 
son to believe that urea or allantoine, as such, are 
employed by the organism in the production of bile. 
We can prove that their elements serve this pur- 
pose, but we are utterly ignorant how these ele- 
ments enter into these combinations, or what is the 
chemical character of the nitrogenised compound 
which unites with the elements of starch to form 
bile, or rather choleic acid. 

62. Choleic acid may be formed from the ele- 
ments of starch with those of urie acid and urea, or 
of allantoine, or of uric acid, or of alloxan, or of ox- 
alice acid and ammonia, or of hippuric acid. The 
possibility of its being produced from so great a va- 
riety of nitrogenised compounds is sufficient to 
shew that all the nitrogenised products of the meta- 
morphosis of the tissues may be employed in the 
formation of bile, while we cannot tell in what pre- 
cise way they are so employed. 

By the action of caustic alkalies allantoine may 
be resolved into oxalic acid and ammonia; the 
same products are obtained when oxamide is acted 


VITAL METAMORPHOSES. 161 


on by the same re-agents. Yet we cannot, from 
the similarity of the products, conclude that these 
two compounds have a similar constitution. In like 
manner the nature of the products formed by the 
action of acids on choleic acid does not entitle us 
to draw any conclusion as to the form in which its 
elements are united together. 

63. If the problem to be solved by organic che- 
mistry be this, namely, to explain the changes which 
the food undergoes in the animal body; then it is 
the business of this science to ascertain what ele- 
ments must be added, what elements must be se- 
parated, in order to effect, or, in general, to ren- 
der possible, the conversion of a given compound 
into a second or a third; but we cannot expect 
from it the synthetic proof of the accuracy of the 
views entertained, because every thing in the orga- 
nism goes on under the influence of the vital force, 
an immaterial agency, which the chemist cannot 
employ at will. 

The study of the phenomena which accompany 
the metamorphoses of the food in the organism, the 
discovery of the share which the atmosphere or the ele- 
ments of water take in these changes, lead at once 
to the conditions which must be united in order to 
the production of a secretion or of an organized part. 

64. The presence of free muriatic acid in the 
stomach, and that of soda in the blood, prove beyond 
all doubt the necessity of common salt for the or- 
ganic processes ; but the quantities of soda required 

M 


162 USES OF COMMON SALT 


by animals of different classes, to support the vital 
processes, are singularly unequal. 

If we suppose, that a given amount of blood, 
considered as a compound of soda, passes, in the 
body of a carnivorous animal, in consequence of the 
change of matter, into a new compound of soda, 
namely, the bile, we must assume, that in the nor- 
mal condition of health, the proportion of soda in 
the blood is amply sufficient to form bile with the 
products of transformation. The soda which has 
been used in the vital processes, and any excess of 
soda, must be expelled in the form of a salt, after 
being separated from the blood by the kidneys. 

Now, if it be true, that, in the body of an herbivo- 
rous animal, a much larger quantity of bile is pro- 
duced than corresponds to the amount of blood 
formed or transformed in the vital processes; if the 
greater part of the bile, in this case, proceeds from 
the non-azotised constituents of the food, then the 
soda of the blood which has been formed into or- 
ganised tissue (assimilated or metamorphosed) can- 
not possibly suffice for the supply of the daily seere- 
tion of bile. The soda, therefore, of the bile of the 
herbivora must be supplied directly in the food ; 
their organism must possess the power of applying 
directly to the formation of bile all the compounds 
of soda present in the food, and decomposable by 
the organic process. All the soda of the animal 
body obviously proceeds from the food; but the 
food of the carnivora contains, at most, only the 


IN THE ORGANIC PROCESSES. 163 


amount of soda necessary to the formation of blocd ; 
and in most cases, among animals of this class, we 
may assume that only as much soda as corresponds 
to the proportion employed to form the blood is 
expelled in the urine. 

When the carnivora obtain in their food as much 
soda as suffices for the production of their blood, an 
equal amount is exereted in the urine; when the 
food contains less, a part of that which would other- 
wise be excreted is retained by the organism. 

All these statements are most unequivocally con- 
firmed by the composition of the urine in these 
different classes of animals. 

65. As the ultimate product of the changes of 
all compounds of soda in the animal body, we find 
in the urine the soda in the form of a salt, and the 
nitrogen in that of ammonia or urea. 

The soda in the urine of the carnivora is found 
in combination with sulphuric and phosphoric acids ; 
and along with the sulphate and phosphate of soda 
we never fail to find a certain quantity of a salt of 
ammonia, either muriate or phosphate of ammonia. 
There can be no more decisive evidence in favour 
of the opinion, that the soda of their bile or of the 
metamorphosed constituents of their blood is very 
far from sufficing to neutralize the acids which are 
separated, than the presence of ammonia in their 
urine. This urine, moreover, has an acid re-action. 

In contradistinction to this, we find, in the urine 
of the herbivora, soda in predominating quantity ; 

M 2 


164 LARGE AMOUNT OF ALKALIES 


and that not combined with sulphuric or phosphorie 
acids, but with carbonic, benzoic, or hippuric acids. 

66, These well-established facts demonstrate 
that the herbivora consume a far larger quantity 
of soda than is required merely for the supply of 
the daily consumption of blood. In their food are 
united all the conditions for the production of a 
second compound of soda, destined for the support 
of the respiratory process ; and it can only be a very 
limited knowledge of the vast wisdom displayed in 
the arrangements of organized nature which can 
look on the presence of so much soda in the food 
and in the urine of the herbivora as accidental. 

It cannot be accidental, that the life, the develope- 
ment of a plant is dependant on the presence of the 
alkalies which it extracts from the soil. This plant 
serves as food to an extensive class of animals, and 
in these animals the vital process is again most 
closely connected with the presence of these alkalies. 
We find the alkalies in the bile, and their presence 
in the animal body is the indispensable condition 
for the production of the first food of the young 
animal; for without an abundant supply of potash, 
the production of milk becomes impossible. 

67. All observation leads, as appears from the 
preceding exposition, to the opinion, that certain 
non-azotised constituents of the food of the herbi- 
vora (starch, sugar, gum, &c.) acquire the form of 
a compound of soda, which, in their bodies, serves 
for the same purpose as that which we know cer- 


REQUIRED BY THE HERBIVORA. 165 


tainly to be served by the bile (the most highly car- 
bonized product of the transformation of their tissues) 
in the bodies of the carnivora. These substances 
are employed to support certain vital actions, and 
are finally consumed in the generation of animal 
heat, and in furnishing means of resistance to the 
action of the atmosphere. In the carnivora, the 
rapid transformation of their tissues is a condition of 
their existence, because it is only as the result of 
the change of matter in the body that those sub- 
stances can be formed, which are destined to enter 
into combination with the oxygen of the air; and 
in this sense we may say that the non-azotised con- 
stituents of the food of the herbivora impede the 
change of matter, or retard it, and render unneces- 
sary, at all events, so rapid a process as occurs in 
the carnivora. 

68. The quantity of azotised matter, proportion- 
ally so small, which the herbivora require to sup- 
port their vital functions, is closely connected with 
the power possessed by the non-azotised parts of 
their food to act as means of supporting the respi- 
ratory process; and this consideration seems to 
render it not improbable, that the necessity for 
more complex organs of digestion in the herbivora 
is rather owing to the difficulty of rendering soluble 
and available for the vital processes certain non- 
azotised compounds (gum ? amylaceous fibre?) than 
to any thing in the change or transformation of 
vegetable fibrine, albumen, and caseine into blood; 


166 STARCH, ETC. ASSIST IN FORMING 


since, for this latter purpose, the less complex di- 
gestive apparatus of the carnivora is amply suffi- 
cient. 

69. If, in man, when fed on a mixed diet, starch 
perform a similar part to that which it plays in the 
body of the herbivora; if it be assumed that the 
elements of starch are equally necessary to the for- 
mation of the bile in man as in these animals; then 
it follows that a part of the azotised products of the 
transformation of the tissues in the human body, 
before they are expelled through the bladder, re- 
turns into the circulation from the liver in the shape 
of bile, and is separated by the kidneys from the 
blood, as the ultimate product of the respiratory 
process. 

70. When there is a deficiency of non-azotised 
matter in the food of man, this form of the produc- 
tion of bile is rendered impossible. In that case, 
the secretions must possess a different composition ; 
and the appearance of uric acid in the urine, the 
deposition of uric acid in the joints and in the 
bladder, as well as the influence which an excess of 
animal food (which must be considered equivalent to 
a deficiency of starch, &c.) exercises on the separa- 
tion of uric acid in certain individuals, may be 
explained on this principle. If starch, sugar, &e., 
be deficient, then a part of the azotised compounds 
formed during the change of matter will either 
remain in the situation where they have been 
formed, in which case they will not be sent from 


BILE IN THE HUMAN BODY. 167 


the liver into the circulation, and therefore will not 
undergo the final changes dependant on the action 
of oxygen; or they will be separated by the kid- 
neys in some form different from the normal one. 

71. In the preceding paragraphs I have endea- 
voured to prove that the non-azotised constituents 
of food exercise a most decided influence on the 
nature and quality of the animal secretions. Whe- 
ther this occur directly ; whether, that is to say, 
their elements take an immediate share in the act 
of transformation of tissues; or whether their share 
in that process be an indirect one, is a question 
probably capable of being resolved by careful and 
cautious experiment and observation. It is possible, 
that the non-azotised constituents of food, after 
undergoing some change, are carried from the intes- 
tinal canal directly to the liver, and that they are 
converted into bile in this organ, where they meet 
with the products of the metamorphosed tissues, 
and subsequently complete their course through the 
circulation. 

This opinion appears more probable, when we 
reflect that as yet no trace of starch or sugar has 
been detected in arterial blood, not even in animals 
which had been fed exclusively with these sub- 
stances. We cannot ascribe to these substances, 
since they are wanting in arterial blood, any share 
in the nutritive process; and the occurrence of 
sugar in the urine of those affected with diabetes 
mellitus (which sugar, according to the best obser- 


168 ORIGIN OF THE NITROGEN 


vations, is derived from the food) coupled with its 
total absence in the blood of the same patients, ob- 
viously proves that starch and sugar are not, as such, 
taken into the circulation. 

72. The writings of physiologists contain many 
proofs of the presence of certain constituents of the 
bile in the blood of man in a state of health, al- 
though their quantity can hardly be determined. 
Indeed, if we suppose 84 Ibs. (58,000 grs.) of blood 
to pass through the liver every minute, and if from 
this quantity of blood 2 drops of bile (3 grains to 
the drop) are secreted, this would amount to gs'coth 
part of the weight of the blood, a proportion far too 
small to be quantitatively ascertained by analysis. 

73. The greater part of the bile in the body of 
the herbivora, and in that of man fed on mixed 
food, appears from the preceding considerations to 
be derived from the elements of the non-azotised 
food. But its formation is impossible without the 
addition of an azotised body, for the bile is a com- 
pound of nitrogen. All varieties of bile yet exa- 
mined yield, when subjected to dry distillation, 
ammonia and other nitrogenised products. Taurine 
and ammonia may easily be extracted from ox bile ; 
and the only reason why we cannot positively prove 
that the same products may be obtained from the 
bile of other animals is this, that it is not easy to 
procure, in the case of many of these animals, a 
sufficient quantity of bile for the experiment. 

Now, whether the nitrogenised compound which 


CONTAINED IN HUMAN BILE. 169 


unites with the elements of starch to form bile be 
derived from the food or from the substance of the 
metamorphosed tissues, the conclusion that its pre- 
sence is an essential condition for the secretion of 
bile cannot be considered doubtful. 

Since the herbivora obtain in their food only such 
nitrogenised compounds as are identical in composi- 
tion with the constituents of their blood, it is at all 
events clear, that the nitrogenised compound which 
enters into the composition of bile is derived from 
a compound of proteine. It is either formed in 
consequence of a change which the compounds of 
proteine in the food have undergone, or it is pro- 
duced from the blood or from the substance of the 
tissues by the act of their metamorphosis. 

74. If the conclusion be accurate, that nitrogen- 
ised compounds, whether derived from the blood or 
from the food, take a decided share in the formation 
of the secretions, and particularly of the bile, then 
it is plain that the organism must possess the power 
of causing foreign matters, which are neither parts 
nor constituents of the organs in which vital activity 
resides, to serve for certain vital processes. All nitro- 
genised substances capable of being rendered soluble, 
without exception, when introduced into the organs 
of circulation or of digestion, must, if their compo- 
sition be adapted for such purposes, be employed by 
the organism in the same manner as the nitrogen- 
ised products which are formed in the act of meta- 
morphosis of tissues. 


170 CERTAIN REMEDIES TAKE A 


We are acquainted with a multitude of sub- 
stances, which exercise a most marked influence on 
the act of transformation as well as on the nutritive 
process, while their elements take no share in the 
resulting changes. These are uniformly substances 
the particles of which are in a certain state of 
motion or decomposition, which state is communi- 
cated to all such parts of the organism as are ca- 
pable of undergoing a similar transformation. 

7). Medicinal and poisonous substances form 
a second and most extensive class of compounds, 
the elements of which are capable of taking a direct 
or an indirect share in the processes of secretion 
and of transformation. These may be subdivided 
into three great orders; the first (which includes 
the metallic poisons) consists of substances which 
enter into chemical combination with certain parts 
or constituents of the body, while the vital force 
is insufficient to destroy the compounds thus fermed. 
The second division, consisting of the essential oils, 
camphor, empyreumatic substances, and antiseptics, 
&c., possesses the property of impeding or retarding 
those kinds of transformation to which certain very 
complex organic molecules are liable; transforma- 
tions which, when they take place out of the body, 
are usually designated by the names of fermentation 
and putrefaction. 

The third division of medicinal substances is 
composed of bodies, the elements of which take a 
direct share in the changes going on in the animal 


SHARE IN THE VITAL TRANSFORMATIONS. 171 


body. When introduced into the system, they 
augment the energy of the vital activity of one or 
more organs; they excite morbid phenomena in the 
healthy body. All of them produce a marked effect 
in a comparatively small dose, and many are poi- 
sonous when administered in larger quantity. None 
of the substances in this class can be said to take a 
decided share in the nutritive process, or to be em- 
ployed by the organism in the production of blood ; 
partly, because their composition is different from 
that of blood, and, partly, because the proportion in 
which they must be given, to exert their influence, is 
as nothing, compared with the mass of the blood. 

These substanees, when taken into the cireula- 
tion, alter, as is commonly said, the quality of the 
blood, and in order that they may pass from the 
stomach into the circulation with their entire effi- 
cacy, we must assume that their composition is not 
affected by the organic influence of the stomach. 
If insoluble when given, they are rendered soluble 
in that organ, but they are not decomposed ; other- 
wise, they would be incapable of exerting any influ- 
ence on the blood. 

76. The blood, in its normal state, possesses two 
qualities closely related to each other, although we 
may conceive one of them to be quite independent 
of the other. 

The blood contains, in the form of the globules, 
the carriers, as it were, of the oxygen which serves 
for the production of certain tissues, as well as for 


E Oe ARTERIAL BLOOD ACTS BY ITS 


the generation of animal heat. The globules of 
the blood, by means of the property they possess 
of giving off the oxygen they have taken up in 
the lungs, without losing their peculiar character, 
determine generally the change of matter in the 
body. 

The second quality of the blood, namely, the 
property which it possesses of becoming part of an 
organised tissue, and its consequent adaptation to 
promote the formation and the growth of organs, as 
well as to the reproduction or supply of waste in 
the tissues, is owing, chiefly, to the presence of dis- 
solved fibrine and albumen. These two chief con- 
stituents, which serve for nutrition and reproduc- 
tion of matter, in passing through the lungs are 
saturated with oxygen, or, at all events, absorb so 
much from the atmosphere as entirely to lose the 
power of extracting oxygen from the other sub- 
stances present in the blood. 

77. We know for certain that the globules of 
the venous blood, when they come in contact with 
air in the lungs, change their colour, and that this 
change of colour is accompanied by an absorption of 
oxygen; and that all those constituents of the blood, 
which possess in any degree the power of combining 
with oxygen, absorb it in the lungs, and become sa- 
turated with it. Although in contact with these 
other compounds, the globules, when arterialised, 
retain their florid, red colour in the most minute 
ramifications of the arteries; and we observe them 


OXYGEN, FIBRINE, AND ALBUMEN. je 


to change their colour, and to assume the dark red 
colour which characterizes venous blood, only during 
their passage through the capillaries. From these 
facts we must conclude that the constituents of 
arterial blood are altogether destitute of the power 
to deprive the arterialised globules of the oxygen 
which they have absorbed from the air; and we 
can draw no other conclusion from the change of 
colour which occurs in the capillaries, than that the 
arterialised globules, during their passage through 
the capillaries, return to the condition which cha- 
racterized them in venous blood; that, consequently, 
they give up the oxygen absorbed in the lungs, and 
thus acquire the power of combining with that 
element afresh. 

78. We find, therefore, in arterial blood, albu- 
men, which, like all the other constituents of that 
fluid, has become saturated with oxygen in its pas- 
sage through the lungs, and oxygen gas, which is 
conveyed to every particle in the body in chemical 
combination with the globules of the blood. As 
far as our observations extend (in the developement 
of the chick during incubation), all the conditions 
seem to be here united which are necessary to the 
formation of every kind of tissue; while that por- 
tion of oxygen which is not consumed in the growth 
or reproduction of organs combines with the sub- 
stance of the living parts, and produces, by its 
union with their elements, the act of transforma- 
tion which we have called the change of matter. 


174 MODUS OPERANDI OF 


79. It is obvious, that all compounds, of what- 
ever kind, which are present in the capillaries, 
whether separated there, or introduced by endos- 
mosis or imbibition, if not altogether incapable of 
uniting with oxygen, must, when in contact with 
the arterialised globules, the carriers of oxygen, be 
affected exactly in the same way as the solids form- 
ing part of living organs. These compounds, or their 
elements, will enter into combination with oxygen, 
and in this case there will either be no change of 
matter, or that change will exhibit itself in another 
form, yielding products of a different kind. 

80. The conception, then, of a change in the two 
qualities of the blood above alluded to, by means of 
a foreign body contained in the blood or introduced 
into the circulation (a medicinal agent), presupposes 
two kinds of operation. 

Assuming that the remedy cannot enter into any 
such chemical union with the constituents of the 
blood as puts an end to the vital activity ; assuming, 
further, that it is not in a condition of transforma- 
tion capable of being communicated to the consti- 
tuents of the blood or of the organs, and of continu- 
ing in them; assuming, lastly, that it is incapable, 
by its contact with the living parts, of putting a 
stop to the change of matter, the transformation 
of their elements; then, in order to discover the 
modus operandi of this class of medicinal agents, 
nothing is left but to conclude that their elements 
take a share in the formation of certain constituents 


ORGANIC REMEDIAL AGENTS. 175 


of the living body, or in the production of certain 
secretions. 

81. The vital process of secretion, in so far as it 
is related to the chemical forces, has been subjected 
to examination in the preceding pages. In the ear- 
nivora we have reason to believe, that, without the 
addition of any foreign matter in the food, the bile 
and the constituents of the urine are formed in 
those parts where the change of matter takes place. 
In other classes of animals, on the other hand, we 
may suppose that in the organ of secretion itself, 
the secreted fluid is produced from certain matters 
conveyed to it; in the herbivora, for example, the 
bile is formed from the elements of starch along 
with those of a nitrogenised product of the meta- 
morphosis of the tissues. But this supposition by 
no means excludes the opinion, that in the carni- 
vora the products of the metamorphosed tissues are 
resolved into bile, uric acid, or urea, only after reach- 
ing the secreting organ; nor the opinion that the 
elements of the non-azotised food, conveyed directly 
by the circulation to every part of the body, where 
change of matter is going on, may there unite with 
the elements of the metamorphosed tissues, to form 
the constituents of the bile and of the urine. 

82. If we now assume, that certain medicinal 
agents may become constituents of secretions, this 
can only occur in two ways. Either they enter the 
circulation, and take a direct share in the change of 
matter, in so far as their elements enter into the 


176 NITROGENISED ORGANIC REMEDIES. 


composition of the new products; or they are con- 
veyed to the organs of secretion, where they exert 
an influence on the formation or on the quality of a 
secretion by the addition of their elements. 

In either case, they must lose in the organism 
their chemical character; and we know with suffi- 
cient certainty, that this class of medicinal bodies 
disappears in the body without leaving a trace. In 
fact, if we ascribe to them any effect, they cannot 
lose their peculiar character by the action of the 
stomach ; their disappearance, therefore, presupposes 
that they have been applied to certain purposes, 
which cannot be imagined to occur without a change 
in their composition. 

83. Now, however limited may be our knowledge 
of the composition of the different secretions, with 
the exception of the bile, this much is certain, that 
all the secretions contain nitrogen chemically com- 
bined. They pass into fetid putrefaction, and yield 
either in this change, or in the dry distillation, am- 
moniacal products. Even the saliva, when acted on 
by caustic potash, disengages ammonia freely. 
84. Medicinal or remedial agents may be divided 
into two classes, the nitrogenised and the non-ni- 
trogenised. The nitrogenised vegetable principles, 
whose composition differs from that of the proper 
nitrogenised elements of nutrition, also produced by 
a vegetable organism, are distinguished, beyond all 
others, for their powerful action on the animal eco- 
nomy. 


VEGETABLE ALKALIES, ETC. 177 


The effects of these substances are singularly 
varied; from the mildest form of the action of 
aloes, to the most terrible poison, strychnia, we 
observe an endless variety of different actions. 

With the exception of three, all these substances 
produce diseased conditions in the healthy organ- 
ism, and are poisonous in certain doses. Most of 
them are, chemically speaking, basic or alkaline. 

No remedy, devoid of nitrogen, possesses a poison- 
ous action in a similar dose.* 

85. The medicinal or poisonous action of the 
nitrogenised vegetable principles has a fixed rela- 
tion to their composition; it cannot be supposed 
to be independent of the nitrogen they contain, 
but is certainly not in direct proportion to the quan- 
tity of nitrogen. 

Solanine (38), and picrotoxine (39), which con- 
tain least nitrogen, are powerful poisons. Quinine 
(40) contains more nitrogen than morphia (41). 
Caffeine (42), and theobromine, the most highly 
nitrogenised of all vegetable principles, are not 
poisonous. 

86. A nitrogenised body, which exerts, by means 
of its elements, an influence on the formation or on 
the quality of a secretion, must, in regard to its 


* This consideration or comparative view has led lately to a 
more accurate investigation of the composition of picrotoxine, 
the poisonous principle of cocculus indicus ; and M. Francis has 
discovered the existence of nitrogen in it, hitherto overlooked, 
and has also determined its amount. 


N 


7s MODE OF ACTION OF NITROGENISED 


chemical character, be capable of taking the same 
share as the nitrogenised products of the animal 
body do in the formation of the bile; that is, it 
must play the same part as a product of the vital 
process. On the other hand, a non-azotised medi- 
cinal agent, in so far as its action affects the secre- 
tions, must be capable of performing in the animal 
body the same part as that which we have ascribed 
in the formation of the bile, to the non-azotised 
elements of food. 

Thus, if we suppose that the elements of hippuric 
or uric acids are derived from the substance of the 
organs in which vitality resides; that, as products 
of the transformation of these organs, they lose the 
vital character, without losing the capacity of under- 
going changes under the influence of the inspired 
oxygen, or of the apparatus of secretion; we ean 
hardly doubt that similar nitrogenised compounds, 
products of the vital process in plants, when intro- 
duced into the animal body, may be employed by 
the organism exactly in the same way as the nitro- 
genised products of the metamorphosis of the ani- 
mal tissues themselves. If hippuric and uric acids, 
or any of their elements, can take a share, for ex- 
ample, in the formation and supply of bile, we must 
allow the same power to other analogous nitro- 
genised compounds. 

We shall never, certainly, be able to discover 
how men were led to the use of the hot infusion of 
the leaves of a certain shrub (tea), or of a decoction 


VEGETABLE PRODUCTS: CAFFEINE. 179 


of certain roasted seeds (coffee). Some cause there 
must be, which would explain how the practice has 
become a necessary of life to whole nations. But 
it is surely still more remarkable, that the beneficial 
effects of both plants on the health must be ascribed 
to one and the same substance, the presence of 
which in two vegetables, belonging to different 
natural families, and the produce of different quar- 
ters of the globe, could hardly have presented itself 
to the boldest imagination. Yet recent researches 
have shewn, in such a manner as to exclude all 
doubt, that caffeine, the peculiar principle of coffee, 
and theine, that of tea, are, in all respects, identical. 

It is not less worthy of notice, that the American 
Indian, living entirely on flesh, discovered for him- 
self, in tobacco smoke, a means of retarding the 
change of matter in the tissues of his body, and 
thereby of making hunger more endurable; and 
that he cannot withstand the action of brandy, 
which, acting as an element of respiration, puts 
a stop to the change of matter by performing the 
function which properly belongs to the products of 
the metamorphosed tissues. Tea and coffee were 
originally met with among nations whose diet is 
chiefly vegetable. 

87. Without entering minutely into the medi- 
cinal action of caffeine (theine), it will surely appear 
a most striking fact, even if we were to deny its 
influence on the process of secretion, that this sub- 
stance, with the addition of oxygen and the elements 

N 2 


180 RELATION OF CAFFEINE, ASPARAGINE, 


of water, can yield taurine, the nitrogenised com- 
pound peculiar to bile: 
1 at. caffeine or theine — C,N,H; O, 


9 at 4 wilten, Edlesslaceren == H, O, 
9 at. OX VReM tee aeee = O, 
iF CsN2H,,Ox = 
—— vat. taurine; 22: 22.5.2 = 2 (C,NH,O,) 


A similar relation exists in the case of the pecu- 
liar principle of asparagus and of altheea, asparagine; 
which also, by the addition of oxygen and the 
elements of water, yields the elements of taurine: 


1 at. asparagine — C,N,H; O, 


6 at. water...... = H, 0; 
Stat. Oxon... 5— Os 
CsN2H,02 = 


— 2 at. taurine = 2 (C,NH,O,,) 

The addition of the elements of water and of a 
certain quantity of oxygen to the elements of theo- 
bromine, the characteristic principle of the cacao 
bean (theobroma cacao), yields the elements of 
taurine and urea, of taurine, carbonic acid, and 
ammonia, or of taurine and urie acid: 


1 at. theobromine C,,N;H,,O iste 
a €ODromine UjgINg hh jpU4 if 4 at. taurine CigN HO 40 


i Ate WALCT../ccs0s HO: mt stetaea 4, MEO 
16 at. oxygen ... Or; 
CisN¢H32042 CisN6H3:042 
or— 
1 at. theobromine C,,.N, HyO; 4 at. taurine C,,N, H.,0, 
24 at. water ...... 0uh=} at. carb. acid C, Oz 
16 at. oxygen...... O,; 2at.ammonia N, H, 


CN Hs, Ou C,,N, H3,04 


AND THEOBROMINE TO BILE AND URINE. 181 


or— 

1 at. theobromine C,,N,H,,O, , 
Soabe Water 2. co's HO: ltt at. oe C, N; H,,0.9 
14 at. oxygen ..... O,, 1 at. uric acid C,,N,H, O,- 
CisN¢H,s02¢ Cialis Os. 


88. To see how the action of caffeine, asparagine, 
theobromine, &c., may be explained, we must call 
to mind that the chief constituent of the bile 
contains only 3:8 per cent. of nitrogen, of which 
only the half, or 1°9 per cent., belongs to the tau- 
rine. 

Bile contains, in its natural state, water and solid 
matter, in the proportion of 90 parts by weight of the 
former to 10 of the latter. If we suppose these 10 
parts by weight of solid matter to be choleic acid, 
with 3°87 per cent. of nitrogen, then 100 parts of 
fresh bile will contain 0-171 parts of nitrogen in 
the shape of taurine. Now this quantity is con- 
tained in 0°6 parts of caffeine ; or 2,8ths grains of caf- 
feine can give to an ounce of bile the nitrogen it 
contains in the form of taurine. If an infusion of 
tea contain no more than the ;4th of a grain of caf- 
feine, still, if it contribute in point of fact to the 
formation of bile, the action, even of such a quan- 
tity, cannot be looked upon as a nullity. Neither 
can it be denied that in the case of an excess of 
non-azotised food and a deficiency of motion, which 
is required to cause the change of matter in the tis- 
sues, and thus to yield the nitrogenised product 
which enters into the composition of the bile; that 


182 MODE OF ACTION OF VEGETABLE 


in such a condition, the health may be benefited by 
the use of compounds which are capable of sup- 
plying the place of the nitrogenised product pro- 
duced in the healthy state of the body, and essen- 
tial to the production of an important element of 
respiration. In a chemical sense—and it is this 
alone which the preceding remarks are intended to 
shew—caffeine or theine, asparagine, and theobro- 
mine, are, in virtue of their composition, better 
adapted to this purpose than all other nitrogen- 
ised vegetable principles. The action of these sub- 
stances, in ordinary circumstances, is not obvious, 
but it unquestionably exists. 

89. With respect to the action of the other nitro- 
genised vegetable principles, such as quinine, or the 
alkaloids of opium, &c., which manifests itself, not in 
the processes of secretion, but in phenomena of an- 
other kind, physiologists and pathologists entertain 
no doubt that it is exerted chiefly on the brain and 
nerves. This action is commonly said to be dyna- 
mic—that is, it accelerates, or retards, or alters in 
some way the phenomena of motion in animal life. 
If we reflect that this action is exerted by sub- 
stances which are material, tangible and ponder- 
able; that they disappear in the organism; that a 
double dose acts more powerfully than a single one ; 
that, after a time, a fresh dose must be given, if we 
wish to produce the action a second time; all these 
considerations, viewed chemically, permit only one 
form of explanation; the supposition, namely, that 


ALKALIES ON THE NERVOUS SYSTEM. 183 


these compounds, by means of their elements, take 
a share in the formation of new, or the transforma- 
tion of existing brain and nervous matter. 

However strange the idea may, at first sight, ap- 
pear, that the alkaloids of opium or of cinchona 
bark, the elements of codeine, morphia, quinine, 
&c., may be converted into constituents of brain 
and nervous matter, into organs of vital energy, 
from which the organic motions of the body derive 
their origin; that these substances form a consti- 
tuent of that matter, by the removal of which the 
seat of intellectual life, of sensation, and of con- 
sciousness, is annihilated: it is, nevertheless, cer- 
tain, that all these forms of power and activity are 
most closely dependant, not only on the existence, 
but also on a certain quality of the substance of the 
brain, spinal marrow, and nerves; insomuch, that 
all the manifestations of the life or vital energy of 
these modifications of nervous matter, which are 
recognized as the phenomena of motion, sensation, 
or feeling, assume another form as soon as their 
composition is altered. The animal organism has 
produced the brain and nerves out of compounds 
furnished to it by vegetables; it is the constituents 
of the food of the animal, which, in consequence 
of a series of changes, have assumed the properties 
and the structure which we find in the brain and 
nerves. 

90. If it must be admitted as an undeniable 
truth, that the substance of the brain and nerves is 


184 COMPOSITION AND ORIGIN 


produced from the elements of vegetable albumen, 
fibrine and caseine, either alone, or with the aid of 
the elements of non-azotised food, or of the fat 
formed from the latter, there is nothing absurd in 
the opinion, that other constituents of vegetables, 
intermediate in composition between the fats and 
the compounds of proteine, may be applied in the 
organism to the same purpose. 

91. According to the researches of Fremy, the 
chief constituent of the fat found in the brain is a 
compound of soda with a peculiar acid, the cerebric 
acid, which contains, in 100 parts, 


Carbon ... wee SOE 5c cos OOF 
Hydrogen Bs e. ie we 21036 
Nitrogen bee ae ah 253 2°3 
Phosphorus hs “ss wee ose 0:9 
Oxygen ... sa Feo se oes 19°5 


It is easy to see that the composition of cerebric 
acid differs entirely, both from that of ordinary fats 
and of the compounds of proteine. Common fats 
contain no nitrogen, while the compounds of pro- 
teine contain nearly 17 per cent. Leaving the 
phosphorus out of view, the composition of this 
acid approaches most nearly to that of choleic acid, 
although these two compounds are quite distinct. 

92. Brain and nervous matter is, at all events, 
formed in a manner similar to that in which bile is 
produced ; either by the separation of a highly ni- 
trogenised compound from the elements of blood, or 
by the combination of a nitrogenised product of the 


OF THE NERVOUS MATTER. 185 


vital process with a non-azotised compound (pro- 
bably, a fatty body). All that has been said in the 
preceding pages on the various possible ways by 
which the bile might be supposed to be formed, all 
the conclusions which we attained in regard to the 
co-operation of azotised and non-azotised elements 
of food, may be applied with equal justice and equal 
probability to the formation and production of the 
nervous substance. 

We must not forget that, in whatever light we 
may view the vital operations, the production of 
nervous matter from blood presupposes a change in 
the composition and qualities of the constituents of 
blood. That such a change occurs is as certain as 
that the existence of the nervous matter cannot be 
denied. In this sense, we must assume, that from 
a compound of proteine may be formed a first, se- 
cond, third, &c., product, before a certain number of 
its elements can become constituents of the nervous 
matter ; and it must be considered as quite certain, 
that a product of the vital process in a plant, intro- 
duced into the blood, will, if its composition be 
adapted to this purpose, supply the place of the first, 
second, or third product of the alteration of the 
compound of proteine. Indeed it cannot be consi- 
dered merely accidental, that the composition of the 
most active remedies, namely, the vegetable alka- 
loids, cannot be shewn to be related to that of any 
constituent of the body, except only the substance 
of the nerves and brain. All of these contain a 


186 RELATION OF VEGETABLE ALKALIES 


certain quantity of nitrogen, and, in regard to their 
composition, they are intermediate between the 
compounds of proteine and the fats. 

93. In contradistinction to their chemical charac- 
ter, we find that the substance of the brain exhibits 
the characters of an acid. It contains far more 
oxygen than the organic bases or alkaloids. We 
observe, that quinine and cinchonine, morphia and 
codeine, strychnia and brucia, which are, respectively, 
so nearly alike in composition, if they do not pro- 
duce absolutely the some effect, yet resemble each 
other in their action more than those which differ 
more widely in composition. We find that their 
energy of action diminishes, as the amount of oxy- 
gen they contain increases (as in the case of narco- 
tine), and that, strictly speaking, no one of them 
can be entirely replaced by another. There cannot 
be a more decisive proof of the nature of their ac- 
tion than this last fact ; it must stand in the closest 
relation to their composition. If these compounds, 
in point of fact, are capable of taking a share in 
the 'formation or in the alteration of the qualities 
of brain and nervous matter, their action on the 
healthy as well as the diseased organism admits of 
a surprisingly simple explanation. If we are not 
tempted to deny, that the chief constituent of soup 
may be applied to a purpose corresponding to its 
composition in the human body, or that the organic 
constituent of bones may be so employed in the 
body of the dog, although that substance (gelatine 


TO THE NERVOUS MATTER. 187 


in both cases) is absolutely incapable of yielding 
blood; if, therefore, nitrogenised compounds, to- 
tally different from the compounds of proteine, may 
be employed for purposes corresponding to their 
composition ; we may thence conclude that a product 
of vegetable life, also different from proteine, but 
similar to a constituent of the animal body, may be 
employed by the organism in the same way and for 
the same purpose as the natural product, originally 
formed by the vital energy of the animal organs, 
and that, indeed, from a vegetable substance. 

The time is not long gone by, when we had not 
the very slightest conception of the cause of the vari- 
ous effects of opium, and when the action of cinchona 
bark was shrouded in incomprehensible obscurity. 
Now that we know that these effects are caused by 
erystallizable compounds, which differ as much in 
composition as in their action on the system; now 
that we know the substances to which the medi- 
cinal or poisonous energy must be ascribed, it would 
argue only want of sense to consider the action of 
these substances inexplicable; and to do so, as 
many have done, because they act in very minute 
doses, is as unreasonable as it would be to judge of 
the sharpness of a razor by its weight. 

94. It would serve no purpose to give these con- 
siderations a greater extension at present. How- 
ever hypothetical they may appear, they only de- 
serve attention in so far as they point out the way 
which chemistry pursues, and which she ought not 


188 THEORY OF THE ACTION OF 


to quit, if she would really be of service to physio- 
logy and pathology. The combinations of the che- 
mist relate to the change of matter, forwards and 
backwards, to the conversion of food into the various 
tissues and secretions, and to their metamorphosis 
into lifeless compounds ; his investigations ought to 
tell us what has taken place and what can take 
place in the body. It is singular that we find me- 
dicinal agencies all dependant on certain matters, 
which differ in composition ; and if, by the intro- 
duction of a substance, certain abnormal conditions 
are rendered normal, it will be impossible to reject 
the opinion, that this phenomenon depends on a 
change in the composition of the constituents of the 
diseased organism, a change in which the elements 
of the remedy take a share; a share similar to that 
which the vegetable elements of food have taken in 
the formation of fat, of membranes, of the saliva, of 
the seminal fluid, &e. Their carbon, hydrogen, or 
nitrogen, or whatever else belongs to their compo- 
sition, are derived from the vegetable organism ; 
and, after all, the action and effects of quinine, mor- 
phia, and the vegetable poisons in general, are no 
hypotheses. 

95. Thus, as we may say, in a certain sense, of 
caffeine or theine and asparagine, &c., as well as 
of the non-azotised elements of food, that they are 
food for the liver, since they contain the elements, 
by the presence of which that organ is enabled to 
perform its functions, so we may consider these ni- 


NITROGENISED VEGETABLE PRODUCTS. 189 


trogenised compounds, so remarkable for their action 
on the brain and on the substance of the organs of 
motion, as elements of food for the organs as yet 
unknown, which are destined for the metamorphosis 
of the constituents of the blood into nervous sub- 
stance and brain. Such organs there must be in 
the animal body, and if, in the diseased state, an ab- 
normal process of production or transformation of 
the constituents of cerebral and nervous matter has 
been established; if, in the organs intended for this 
purpose, the power of forming that matter out of 
the constituents of blood, or the power of resisting 
an abnormal degree of activity in its decomposition 
or transformation, has been diminished; then, in a 
chemical sense, there is no objection to the opinion, 
that substances of a composition analogous to that 
of nervous and cerebral matter, and, consequently, 
adapted to form that matter, may be employed, in- 
stead of the substances produced from the blood, 
either to furnish the necessary resistance, or to re- 
store the normal condition. 

96. Some physiologists and chemists have ex- 
pressed doubts of the peculiar and distinct character 
of cerebric acid}; a substance which, from its amount 
of carbon and hydrogen, and from its external cha- 
racters, resembles a nitrogenised fatty acid. But 
a nitrogenised fat, having an acid character, is, 
in fact, no anomaly. Hippuric acid is in many of 
its characters very similar to the fatty acids, but is 
essentially distinguished from them by containing 


= 


190 PHOSPHORUS SEEMS ESSENTIAL 


nitrogen. The organic constituents of bile resem- 
ble the acid resins in physical characters, and yet 
contain nitrogen. The organic alkalies are inter- 
mediate in their physical characters between the 
fats and resins, and they all contain nitrogen. <A 
nitrogenised fatty acid is as little improbable as the 
existence of a nitrogenised resin with the characters 
of a base. | 

97. An accurate investigation would probably 
discover differences in the composition of the brain, 
spinal marrow, and nerves. According to the ob- 
servations of Valentin, the quality of the cerebral 
and nervous substance is very rapidly altered from 
the period of death, and very uncommon precau- 
tions would be required for the separation of foreign 
matters, not properly belonging to the substance of 
the spinal marrow or brain. But, however difficult 
it may appear, the investigation seems yet to be 
practicable. We know, in the meantime, that all 
experience is against the notion of a large amount 
of carbon and hydrogen in the substance of the 
brain. The absence of nitrogen as an element of 
the cerebral and nervous matter, appears, at all 
events, improbable. This substance, moreover, can- 
not be classed with ordinary fats, because we find 
the cerebric acid combined with soda, whereas, all 
fats are compounds of fatty acids with oxide of 
glycerule. In regard to the phosphorus of the 
brain, we can only guess as to the form in which 
the phosphorus exists. Walchner observed  re- 


TO THE NERVOUS MATTER. 191 


cently that bubbles of spontaneously inflammable 
phosphuretted hydrogen were disengaged from the 
trough of a spring in Carlsruhe, on the bottom of 
which fish had putrefied ; and gases containing phos- 
phorus have also been observed among the products 
of the putrefaction of the brain.* 


* The curator of the museum at Geneva gave to M. Leroyer, 
apothecary, a large quantity of spirit of wine, which had been 
used for the preservation of fishes, and which he undertook to 
purify. He distilled it from a mixture of chloride of calcium and 
quicklime, and evaporated the residue in the air, over a fire. As 
soon as the mass had acquired a certain consistence, and a higher 
temperature, a prodigious quantity of spontaneously inflammable 
phosphuretted hydrogen was disengaged. (Dumas, V. 267.) 


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PHENOMENA OF MOTION 


IN THE 


ANIMAL ORGANISM. 


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f. 


Ir might appear an unprofitable task to add one 
more to the innumerable forms under which the 
human intellect has viewed the nature and essence 
of that peculiar cause which must be considered 
as the ultimate source of the phenomena which 
characterize vegetable and animal life, were it not 
that certain conceptions present themselves as ne- 
cessary deductions from the views on this subject 
developed in the introduction to the first part of 
this work. The following pages will be devoted 
to a more detailed examination of these deductions. 
It must be admitted here, that all these conclu- 
sions will lose their force and significance, if it can 
be proved that the cause of vital activity has in 
its manifestations nothing in common with other 
known causes which produce motion or change of 
form and structure in matter. 

But a comparison of its peculiarities with the 
modus operandi of these other causes, cannot, at 
all events, fail to be advantageous, inasmuch as 
the nature and essence of natural phenomena are 

0 2 


196 THE PHENOMENA OF MOTION 


recognizable, not by abstraction, but only by com- 
parative observations. 

If the vital phenomena be considered as mani- 
festations of a peculiar force, then the effects of 
this force must be regulated by certain laws, which 
laws may be investigated; and these laws must be 
in harmony with the universal laws of resistance 
and motion, which preserve in their courses the 
worlds of our own and other systems, and which 
also determine changes of form and structure in 
material bodies; altogether independently of the 
matter in which vital activity appears to reside, or 
of the form in which vitality is manifested. 

The vital force in a living animal tissue appears 
as a cause of growth in the mass, and of resistance 
to those external agencies which tend to alter the 
form, structure, and composition of the substance of 
the tissue in which the vital energy resides. 

This force further manifests itself as a cause of 
motion and of change in the form and structure of 
material substances, by the disturbance and abolition 
of the state of rest in which those chemical forces 
exist, by which the elements of the compounds 
conveyed to the living tissues, in the form of food, 
are held together. 

The vital force causes a decomposition of the 
constituents of food, and destroys the force of at- 
traction which is continually exerted between their 
molecules; it alters the direction of the chemical 
forces in such wise, that the elements of the con- 


' 


IN THE ANIMAL ORGANISM. 197 


stituents of food arrange themselves in another 
form, and combine to produce new compounds, 
either identical in composition with the living 
tissues, or differing from them; it further changes 
the direction and force of the attraction of co- 
hesion, destroys the cohesion of the nutritious com- 
pounds, and forces the new compounds to assume 
forms altogether different from those which are the 
result of the attraction of cohesion when acting 
freely, that is, without resistance. 

The vital force is also manifested as a force of 
attraction, Inasmuch as the new compound produced 
by the change of form and structure in the food, 
when it has a composition identical with that of the 
living tissue, becomes a part of that tissue. 

Those newly-formed compounds, whose compo- 
sition differs from that of the living tissue, are 
removed from the situation in which they are 
formed, and, in the shape of certain secretions, 
being carried to other parts of the body, undergo 
in contact with these a series of analogous changes. 

The vital force is manifested in the form of 
resistance, inasmuch as by its presence in the living 
tissues, their elements acquire the power of with- 
standing the disturbance and change in their form 
and composition, which external agencies tend to 
produce; a power which, simply as chemical com- 
pounds, they do not possess. 

As in the case of other forces, the conception of 
an unequal intensity of the vital force comprehends 


198 THE PHENOMENA OF MOTION 


not only an unequal capacity for growth in the 
mass, and an unequal power of overcoming che- 
mical resistance, but also an inequality in the 
amount of that resistance which the parts or con- 
stituents of the living tissue oppose to a change in 
their form and composition, from the action of new 
external active causes of change; just as the force 
of cohesion or of affinity is in direct proportion to 
the resistance which these forces oppose to any ex- 
ternal cause, mechanical or chemical, tending to 
separate the molecules, or the elements of an exist- 
ing compound. 

The manifestations of the vital force are depen- 
dent on a certain form of the tissue in which it re- 
sides, as well as on a fixed composition in the sub- 
stance of the living tissue. 

The capacity of growth in a living tissue is de- 
termined by the immediate contact with matters 
adapted to a certain decomposition, or the elements 
of which are capable of becoming component parts 
of the tissue in which vitality resides. 

The phenomenon of growth, or increase in the 
mass, presupposes that the acting vital force is more 
powerful than the resistance which the chemical 
force opposes to the decomposition or transforma- 
tion of the elements of the food. 

The manifestations of the vital force are depen- 
dent on a certain temperature. Neither in a plant 
nor in an animal do vital phenomena occur when 
the temperature is lowered to a certain extent. 


IN THE ANIMAL ORGANISM. 199 


The phenomena of vitality in a living organism 
diminish in intensity when heat is abstracted, pro- 
vided the lost heat be not restored by other causes. 

Deprivation of food soon puts a stop to all mani- 
festations of vitality. 

The contact of the living tissues with the ele- 
ments of nutrition is determined in the animal body 
by a mechanical force produced within the body, 
which gives to certain organs the power of causing 
change of place, of producing motion, and of over- 
coming mechanical resistance. 

We may communicate motion to a body at rest 
by means of a number of forces, very different in 
their manifestations. Thus, a time-piece may be 
set in motion by a falling weight (gravitation), or 
by a bent spring (elasticity). Every kind of motion 
may be produced by the electric or magnetic force, 
as well as by chemical attraction ; while we cannot 
say, as long as we only consider the manifestation of 
these forces in the phenomenon or result produced, 
which of these various causes of change of place has 
set the body in motion. 

In the animal organism we are acquainted with 
only one cause of motion; and this is the same 
cause which determines the growth of living tissues, 
and gives them the power of resistance to external 
agencies ; it is the vital force. 

In order to attain a clear conception of these 
manifestations of the vital force, so different in 
form, we must bear in mind, that every known 


200 THE PHENOMENA OF MOTION 


force is recognized by two conditions of activity, 
entirely different in the phenomena they offer to the 
attention of the observer. 

The force of gravitation inherent in the particles 
of a stone, gives to them a continual tendency to 
move towards the centre of the earth. 

This effect of gravitation becomes inappreciable 
to the senses when the stone, for example, rests 
upon a table, the particles of which oppose a resist- 
ance to the manifestation of its gravitation. The 
force of gravity, however, is constantly present, and 
manifests itself as a pressure on the supporting 
body ; but the stone remains at rest; it has no mo- 
tion. The manifestation of its gravity in the state 
of rest we call its weight. 

That which prevents the stone from falling is a 
resistance produced by the force of attraction, by 
which the particles of the wood cohere together; a 
mass of water would not prevent the fall of the stone. 

If the force which impelled the mass of the stone 
towards the centre of the earth were greater than 
the force of cohesion in the particles of the wood, 
the latter would be overcome; it would be unable 
to prevent the fall of the stone. 

When we remove the support, and with it the 
force which has prevented the manifestation of the 
force of gravity, the latter at once appears as the 
cause of change of place in the stone, which acquires 
motion, or falls. Resistance is invariably the result 
of a force in action. 


IN THE ANIMAL ORGANISM. 201 


According as the stone is allowed to fall during a 
longer or shorter time, it acquires properties which 
it had not while at rest; it acquires, for example, 
the power of overcoming more feeble or more pow- 
erful obstacles, or that of communicating motion to 
bodies in a state of rest. 

If it fall from a certain height it makes a per- 
manent impression on the spot on which it falls; if 
it fall from a still greater height (during a longer 
time) it perforates the table; its own motion is 
communicated to a certain number of the particles 
of the wood which now fall along with the stone 
itself. The stone, while at rest, possessed none of 
these properties. 

The velocity of the falling body is always the 
effect of the moving force, and is, ceteris paribus, 
proportional to the force of gravitation. 

A body, falling freely, acquires at the end of one 
second a velocity of 30 feet. The same body, if 
falling on the moon, would acquire in one second 
only a velocity of 39,ths of a foot—1 inch, because, 
in the moon, the intensity of gravitation (the pressure 
acting on the body, the moving power) is 360 times 
smaller. 

If the pressure continue uniform, the velocity is 
directly proportional to it; so that, for example, 
the body falling 360 times slower, will, after 360 
seconds, have the same velocity as the other body 
after one second. 

Consequently, the effect is proportional, not to 


202 THE PHENOMENA OF MOTION 


the moving force alone, nor to the time alone, but 
to the pressure multiplied into the time, which is 
called the momentum of force. 

In two equal masses the velocity expresses the 
momentum of force. But under the same pressure 
a body moves more slowly as its mass is greater; a 
mass twice as great requires, in order to attain in 
the same time an equal velocity, twice the pressure ; 
or, under the single pressure, it must continue in 
motion twice as long. 

In order, therefore, to have an expression for the 
whole effect produced, we must multiply the mass 
into the velocity. This product is called the 
amount of motion. 

The amount of motion ina given body must in all 
cases correspond exactly to the momentum of force. 

These two, the amount of motion and the mo- 
mentum of force, are also called simply force ;— 
because we suppose that a less pressure acting, for 
example, during 10 seconds, is equal to a pressure 
ten times greater, acting only during one second. 

The momentum of motion in mechanics signifies 
the effect of a moving force, without reference to 
the time (velocity) in which it was manifested. If 
one man, for example, raises 30 lbs. to a height of 
100 feet, and a second one 350 Ibs. to a height of 
200 feet, then the latter has expended twice as 
much force as the former. A third who raises 
60 lbs. to a height of 50 feet, expends no more force 
than the first did in raising 30Ibs. to the height of 


« 


IN THE ANIMAL ORGANISM. 208 


100 feet. The momentum of motion of the first 
(830X100) is equal to that of the third (60X50), 
while that of the second (380X200) is twice as 
great. 

Momentum of force and momentum of motion 
in mechanics are therefore expressions or measures 
for effects of force, having reference to the velocity 
attained in a given time, or to a given space; and 
in this sense they may be applied to the effects of all 
other causes of motion, or of change in form and 
structure, however great or however small may be 
the space or the time in which their effects are dis- 
played to the senses. 

Every force, therefore, exhibits itself in matter 
either in the form of resistance to external causes 
of motion, or of change in form and structure; or 
as a moving force when no resistance is opposed to 
it; or, finally, in overcoming resistance. 

One and the same force communicates motion 
and destroys motion; the former, when its manifes- 
tations are opposed by no resistance; the latter, 
when it puts a stop to thé manifestation of some 
other cause of motion, or of change in form and 
structure. Equilibrium or rest is that state of 
activity iit which one force or momentum of motion 
is destroyed by an opposite force or momentum of 
motion. ‘ 

We observe both these manifestations of activity 
in that force which gives to the living tissues their 
peculiar properties. 


204 THE PHENOMENA OF MOTION 


The vital force appears as a moving force or 
cause of motion when it overcomes the chemical 
forces (cohesion and affinity) which act between the 
constituents of food, and when it changes the posi- 
tion or place in which their elements occur; it is 
manifested as a cause of motion in overcoming the 
chemical attraction of the constituents of food, 
and is, further, the cause which compels them to 
combine in a new arrangement, and to assume new 
forms. 

It is plain that a part of the animal body pos- 
sessed of vitality, which has therefore the power of 
overcoming resistance, and of giving motion to the 
elementary particles of the food, by means of the 
vital force manifested in itself must have a mo- 
mentum of motion, which is nothing else than the 
measure of the resulting motion or change in form 
and structure. 

We know that this momentum of motion in the 
vital force, residing in a living part, may be em- 
ployed in giving motion to bodies at rest (that is, in 
causing decomposition, or overcoming resistance), 
and if the vital force is analogous in its manifesta- 
tions to other forees, this momentum of motion 
must be capable of being conveyed or communi- 
cated by matters, which in themselves do not de- 
stroy its effect by an opposite manifestation of force. 

Motion, by whatever cause produced, cannot in 
itself be annihilated ; it may indeed become inap- 
preciable to the senses, but even when arrested by 


IN THE ANIMAL ORGANISM. 205 


resistance (by the manifestation of an opposite 
force), its effect is not annihilated. The falling 
stone, by means of the amount of motion acquired 
in its descent, produces an effect when it reaches 
the table. The impression made on the wood, the 
velocity communicated by its parts to those of the 


wood,—all this is its effect. 

If we transfer the conceptions of motion, equi- 
librium, and _ resistance, to the chemical forces, 
which, in their modus operandi, approach to the 
vital force infinitely nearer than gravitation does, 
we know with the utmost certainty, that they are 
active only in the case of immediate contact. We 
know also, that the unequal capacity of chemical 
compounds to offer resistance to external disturbing 
influences, to those of heat, or of electricity, which 
tend to separate their particles, as well as their 
power of overcoming resistance in other compounds 
(of causing decomposition); that, in a word, the 
active force in a compound depends on a certain 
order or arrangement, in which its elementary par- 
ticles touch each other. 

The same elements, united in a different order, 
when in contact with other compounds, exert a 
most unequal power of offering or overcoming re- 
sistance. In one form the force manifested is 
available (the body is active, an acid, for example) ; 
in another not (the body is indifferent, neutral) ; in 
a third form, the momentum of force is opposed to 
that of the first (the body is active, but a base). 


206 THE PHENOMENA OF MOTION 


If we alter the arrangement of the elements, weare 
able to separate the constituents of a compound by 
means of another active body; while the same ele- 
ments, united in their original order, would have 
opposed an invincible resistance to the action of the 
decomposing agent. 

In the same way as two equal inelastic masses, 
impelled with equal velocity from opposite points, 
on coming into contact are brought to rest; in the 
same way, therefore, as two equal and opposite mo- 
menta of motion mutually destroy each other; so 
may the momentum of force in a chemical com- 
pound be destroyed in whole or in part by an equal 
or unequal, and opposite momentum of force in a 
second compound. But it cannot be annihilated 
as long as the arrangement of the elementary 
particles, by which its inherent force was mani- 
fested, is not changed. 

The chemical force of sulphuric acid is present 
in sulphate of lime as entire as in oil of vitriol. It 
is not appreciable by the senses; but if the cause 
be removed which prevented its manifestation, it 
appears in its full force in the compound in which 
it properly resides. 

Thus the force of cohesion in a solid may disap- 
pear, to the senses, from the action of a chemical 
force (in solution), or of heat (in fusion), without 
being in reality annihilated or even weakened. If 
we remove the opposing force or resistance, the force 
of cohesion appears unchanged in crystallization. 


IN THE ANIMAL ORGANISM. 207 


By means of the electrical force, or that of heat, 
we can give the most varied directions to the mani- 
festations of chemical force. By these means we 
can fix, as it were, the order in which the elemen- 
tary particles shall unite. Let us remove the cause 
(heat or electricity) which has turned the balance 
in favour of the weaker attraction in one direction, 
and the stronger attraction will shew itself continu- 
ally active in another direction; and if this stronger 
attraction can overcome the vis inertiz of the ele- 
mentary particles, they will unite in a new form, 
and a new compound of different properties must 
be the result. 

In compounds of this kind, in which, therefore, 
the free manifestation of the chemical force has 
been impeded by other forces, a blow, or mechanical 
friction, or the contact of a substance, the particles 
of which are in a state of motion (decomposition, 
transformation), or any external cause, whose ac- 
tivity is added to the stronger attraction of the ele- 
mentary particles in another direction, may suffice 
to give the preponderance to this stronger attrac- 
tion, to overcome the vis inertiz, to alter the form 
and structure of the compound, which are the 
result of foreign causes, and to produce the resolu- 
tion of the compound into one or more new com- 
pounds with altered properties. 

Transformations, or as they may be called, phe- 
nomena of motion, in compounds of this class, may 
be effected by means of the free and available 


208 THE PHENOMENA OF MOTION 


chemical force of another chemical compound, and 
that without its manifestation being enfeebled or 
arrested by resistance. Thus the equilibrium in the 
attraction between the elements of cane-sugar is 
destroyed by contact with a very small quantity of 
sulphuric acid, and it is converted into grape-sugar. 
In the same way we see the elements of starch, 
under the same influence, arrange themselves with 
those of water in a new form, while the sulphuric 
acid, which has served to produce these transforma- 
tions, loses nothing of its chemical character. In 
regard to other substances on which it acts, it 
remains as active as before, exactly as if it had 
exerted no sort of influence on the cane-sugar or 
starch. 

In contradistinction to the manifestations of the 
so-called mechanical forces, we have recognized in 
the chemical forces causes of motion and of change 
in form and structure, without any observable ex- 
haustion of the force by which these phenomena 
are produced; but the origin of the continued 
manifestation of activity remains still the same; it 
is the absence of an opposite force (a resistance) 
capable of neutralizing it or bringing it into the 
state of equilibrium. 

As the manifestations of chemical forces (the 
momentum of force in a chemical compound) seem 
to depend on a certain order in which the elemen- 
tary particles are united together, so experience 
tells us, that the vital phenomena are inseparable 


IN THE ANIMAL, ORGANISM. 209 


from matter; that the manifestations of the vital 
force in a living part are determined by a certain 
form of that part, and by a certain arrangement of 
its elementary particles. If we destroy the form, or 
alter the composition of the organ, all manifesta- 
tions of vitality disappear. 

There is nothing to prevent us from considering 
the vital force as a peculiar property, which is pos- 
sessed by certain material bodies, and becomes sen- 
sible when their elementary particles are combined 
in a certain arrangement or form. 

This supposition takes from the vital phenomena 
nothing of their wonderful peculiarity; it may 
therefore be considered as a resting point, from 
which an investigation into these phenomena, and 
the laws which regulate them, may be commenced ; 
exactly as we consider the properties and laws of 
light to be dependant on a certain luminiferous 
matter, or ether, which has no further connection 
with the laws ascertained by investigation. 

Considered under this form, the vital force unites 
in its manifestations all the peculiarities of chemical 
forces, and of the not less wonderful cause, which 
we regard as the ultimate origin of electrical phe- 
nomena. 

The vital force does not act, like the force of gra- 
vitation or the magnetic force, at infinite distances, 
but, like chemical forces, it is active only in the 
case of immediate contact. It becomes sensible by 
means of an aggregation of material particles. 

p 


210 THE PHENOMENA OF MOTION 


A living part acquires, on the above supposition, 
the capacity of offering and of overcoming re- 
sistance, by the combination of its elementary par- 
ticles in a certain form; and as long as its form 
and composition are not destroyed by opposing 
forces, it must retain its energy uninterrupted and 
unimpaired. 

When, by the act of manifestation of this energy 
in a living part, the elements of the food are made 
to unite in the same form and structure as the 
living organ possesses, then these elements acquire 
the same powers. By this combination, the vital 
force inherent in them is enabled to manifest itself 
freely, and may be applied in the same way as that 
of the previously existing tissue. 

If, now, we bear in mind, that all matters 
which serve as food to living organisms are com- 
pounds of two or more elements, which are kept 
together by certain chemical forces; if we reflect 
that in the act of manifestation of force in a liv- 
ing tissue, the elements of the food are made to 
combine in a new order ;—it is quite certain that 
the momentum of force or of motion in the vital 
force was more powerful than the chemical attrac- 
tion existing between the elements of the food.* 


* The hands of a man, who raises with a rope and simple 
pulley, 30lbs. to the height of 100 feet, pass over a space of 
100 feet, while his muscular energy furnishes the equilibrium to a 
pressure of 30lbs. Were the force which the man could exert 


not greater than would suffice to keep in equilibrium a pressure of 


IN THE ANIMAL ORGANISM. OTF 


The chemical force which kept the elements to- 
gether acted as a resistance, which was overcome 
by the active vital force. 

Had both forces been equal, no kind of sensible 
effect would have ensued. Had the chemical force 
been the stronger, the living part would have under- 
gone a change. 

If we now suppose that a certain amount of vital 
force must have been expended in bringing to an 
equilibrium the chemical force, there must still re- 
main an excess of force, by which the decompo- 
sition was effected. This excess constitutes the 
momentum of force in the living part, by means of 
which the change was produced; by means of this 
excess the part acquires a permanent power of 
causing further decompositions, and of retaining its 
condition, form, and structure, in opposition to ex- 
ternal agencies. 

We may imagine this excess to be removed, and 
employed in some other form. This would not of 
itself endanger the existence of the living part, 
because the opposing forces would be left in equi- 
librio; but, by the removal of the excess of force, the 
part would lose its capacity of growth, its power to 
cause further decompositions, and its ability to re- 
sist external causes of change. If, in this state of 
equilibrium, oxygen (a chemical agent) should be 
brought in contact with it, then there would be no 


301bs., he would be unable to raise the weight to the height men- 
tioned. 


Eo? 


912 THE PHENOMENA OF MOTION 


resistance to the tendency of the oxygen to combine 
with some element of the living part, because its 
power of resistance has been taken away by some 
other application of its excess of vital force. Ac- 
cording to the amount of oxygen brought to it, a 
certain proportion of the living part would lose its 
condition of vitality, and take the form of a che- 
mical combination, having a composition different 
from that of the living tissue. In a word, there 
would occur a change in the properties of the living 
compound, or what we have called a change of 
matter. 

If we reflect that the capacity of growth or 
increase of mass in plants is almost unlimited; that 
a hundred twigs from a willow tree, if placed in the 
soil, become a hundred trees; we can hardly enter- 
tain a doubt, that with the combination of the ele- 
ments of the food of the plant so as to form a part 
of it,a fresh momentum of force is added in the 
newly formed part to the previously existing mo- 
mentum in the plant; insomuch, that with the in- 
crease of mass, the sum of vital force is augmented. 

According to the amount of available vital force, 
the products formed by its activity from the food 
are varied. The composition of the buds, of the 
radical fibres, of the leaf, of the flower, and of the 
fruit, are very different one from the other; and 
the chemical force by which their elements are held 
together is very different in each of these cases. 

Of the non-azotised constituents of plants we 


IN THE ANIMAL ORGANISM. 913 


may assert, that no part of the momentum of force 
is expended in maintaining their form and structure, 
when their elements have once combined in that 
order in which they become parts of organs endued 
with vitality. 

Very different is the character of the azotised 
vegetable principles; for, when separated from the 
plant, they pass, as is commonly said, spontaneously, 
into fermentation and putrefaction. The cause of 
this decomposition or transformation of their ele- 
ments is the chemical action which the oxygen of the 
atmosphere exercises on one of their constituents. 
Now we know, that as long as the plant exhibits 
the phenomena of life, oxygen gas is given off from 
its surface; that this oxygen is altogether without 
action on the constituents of the living plant, for 
which, in other circumstances, it has the strongest 
attraction. It is obvious, therefore, that a certain 
amount of vital foree must be expended, partly to 
retain the elements of the complex azotised prin- 
ciples in the form, order, and structure which be- 
long to them; and partly as a means of resistance 
against the incessant tendency of the oxygen of the 
atmosphere to act on their elements, as well as 
against that of the oxygen separated in the organ- 
ism of the plant by the vital process. 

With the increase of these easily altered com- 
pounds, in the flower and in the fruit, for example, 
the sum of chemical- force (the free manifestation 
of which, counteracted by an equal measure of vital 


214 THE PHENOMENA OF MOTION 


force, is employed to furnish resistance) also in- 
creases. 

The plant increases in mass until the vital force 
inherent in it comes into equilibrium with all the 
other causes opposed to its manifestation. From 
this period, every new cause of disturbance, added 
to those previously existing (a change of tempera- 
ture, for example), deprives it of the power of offer- 
ing resistance, and it dies down. 

In perennial plants (in trees, for example), the 
mass of the easily decomposable (azotised) com- 
pounds, compared with that of the non-azotised, is 
so small, that of the whole sum of force, only a mi- 
nimum is expended as resistance. In animals, this 
proportion is reversed. 

During every period of the life of a plant, the 
available vital force (that which is not neutralized 
by resistance) is expended only in one form of vital 
manifestation, that of growth or increase of mass, 
or the overcoming of resistance. No part of this 
force is applied to other purposes. 

In the animal organism, the vital force exhibits 
itself, as in the plant, in the form of the capacity of 
growth, and as the means of resistance to external 
agencies ; but both of these manifestations are con- 
fined within certain limits. 

We observe in animals, that the conversion of 
food into blood, and the contact of the blood with 
the living tissues, are determined by a mechanical 
force, whose manifestation proceeds from distinct 


IN THE ANIMAL ORGANISM. 915 


organs, and is effected by a distinct system of or- 
gans, possessing the property of communicating and 
extending the motion which they receive. We find 
the power of the animal to change its place and to 
produce mechanical effects by means of its limbs, 
dependant on a second similar system of organs or 
apparatus. Both of these systems of apparatus, as 
well as the phenomena of motion proceeding from 
them, are wanting in plants. 

In order to form a clear conception of the origin 
and source of the mechanical motions in the animal 
body, it may be advantageous to reflect on the mo- 
dus operandi of other forces, which in their mani- 
festations are most closely allied to the vital force. 

When a number of plates of zinc and copper, 
arranged in a certain order, are brought into con- 
tact with an acid, and when the extremities of the 
apparatus are joined by means of a metallic wire, a 
chemical action begins at the surface of the plates 
of zine, and the wire, in consequence of this action, 
acquires the most singular and wonderful properties. 

The wire appears as the carrier or conductor of a 
force, which may be conducted and communicated 
through it in every direction with amazing velocity. 
It is the conductor or propagator of an uninterrupted 
series of manifestations of activity. 

Such a propagation of motion is inconceivable, if 
in the wire there were a resistance to be overcome; 
for every resistance would convert a part of the 
moving force into a force at rest. 


216 THE PHENOMENA OF MOTION 


When the wire is divided in the middle, and 
its continuity interrupted, the propagation of force 
ceases, and we observe, that in this case the action 
between the zine and the acid is immediately 
stopped. 

If the communication be restored, the action 
which had disappeared reappears with all its origi- 
nal energy. 

By means of the force present in the wire, we 
can produce the most varied effects; we can over- 
come all kinds of resistance, raise weights, set ships 
in motion, &e. And, what is still more remarkable, 
the wire acts as a hollow tube, in which a current 
of chemical force circulates freely and without hin- 
drance. 

Those properties which, when firmly attached to 
certain bodies, we call the strongest and most ener- 
getic affinities, we find, to all appearance, free and 
uncombined in the wire. We can transport them 
from the wire to other bodies, and thereby give to 
them an affinity (a power of entering into combina- 
tion) which in themselves they do not possess. Ac- 
cording to the amount of force circulating in the 
wire, we are able by means of it to decompose com- 
pounds, the elements of which have the strongest 
attraction for each other. Yet the substance of the 
wire takes not the smallest share in all these mani- 
festations of force; it is merely the conductor of 
force. 

We observe, further, in this wire, phenomena of 


IN THE ANIMAL ORGANISM. 217 


attraction and repulsion, which we must ascribe to 
tbe disturbance of the equilibrium in the electric 
or magnetic force; and when this equilibrium is 
restored, the restoration is accompanied by the de- 
velopement of light and heat, its never-failing com- 
panions. 

All these remarkable phenomena are produced 
by the chemical action which the zine and the acid 
exert on each other; they are accompanied by a 
change in form and structure, which both undergo. 

The acid loses its chemical character; the zine 
enters into combination with it. The manifestations 
of foree produced in the wire are the immediate 
consequence of the change in the properties of the 
acid and the metal. 

One particle of acid after another loses its pecu- 
liar chemical character; and we perceive that in 
the same proportion the wire acquires a chemical, 
mechanical, galvanic, or magnetic force, whatever 
name be given to it. According to the number of 
acid particles which in a given time undergo this 
change, that is, according to the surface of the zine, 
the wire receives a greater or less amount of these 
forces. 

The continuance of the current of force depends 
on the duration of the chemical action; and the 
duration of the latter is most closely connected with 
the carrying away, by conduction, of the force. 

If we check the propagation of the current of 
force, the acid retains its chemical character. If 


218 THE PHENOMENA OF MOTION 


we employ it to overcome chemical or mechanical 
resistance, to decompose chemical compounds, or 
to produce motion, the chemical action continues ; 
that is to say, one particle of acid after another 
changes its properties. 

In the preceding paragraphs we have considered 
these remarkable phenomena in a form which is 
independent of the explanations of the schools. Is 
the force which circulates in the wire the electrical 
force? Is it chemical affinity? Is it propagated 
in the conductor like a fluid set in motion, or in 
the form of a series of momenta of motion, like 
light and sound, from one particle of the conductor 
to another? All this we know not, and we shall 
never know. All the suppositions which may be 
employed as explanations of the phenomena have 
not the slightest influence on the truth of these 
phenomena; for they refer merely to the form in 
which they are manifested. 

On some points, however, there is no doubt; 
namely, that all the effects which may be produced — 
by the wire are determined by the change of pro- 
perties in the zine and in the acid; for the term 
“chemical action” signifies neither more nor less 
than the act of change in them; that these effects 
depend on the presence of a conductor, of a sub- 
stance which propagates in all directions, where it 
is not neutralized by resistance, the force or mo- 
mentum produced; that this foree becomes a mo- 
mentum of motion, by means of which we can pro- 


IN THE ANIMAL ORGANISM. 219 


duce mechanical effects, and which, when transferred 
to other bodies, communicates to them all those pro- 
perties, the ultimate cause of which is the chemical 
force itself; for these bodies acquire the power of 
causing decompositions and combinations, such as, 
without a supply of force through the conductor, 
they could not effect. 

If we employ these well-known facts as means 
to assist us in investigating the ultimate cause of 
the mechanical effects in the animal organism, ob- 
servation teaches us, that the motion of the blood 
and of the other animal fluids proceeds from distinct 
organs, which, as in the case of the heart and in- 
testines, do not generate the moving power in them- 
selves, but receive it from other quarters. 

We know with certainty that the nerves are the 
conductors and propagators of mechanical effects ; 
we know, that by means of them motion is propa- 
gated in all directions. For each motion we recog- 
nize a separate nerve, a peculiar conductor, with 
the conducting power of which, or with its interrup- 
tion, the propagation of motion is affected or de- 
stroyed. 

By means of the nerves all the parts of the body, 
all the limbs, receive the moving force which is in- 
dispensable to their functions, to change of place, 
to the production of mechanical effects. Where 
nerves are not found, motion does not occur. The 
excess of force generated in one place is conducted 
to other parts by the nerves. The foree which one 


220) THE PHENOMENA OF MOTION 


organ cannot produce in itself is conveyed to it 
from other quarters; and the vital force which is 
wanting to it, in order to furnish resistance to ex- 
ternal causes of disturbance, it receives in the form 
of excess from another organ, an excess which that 
organ cannot consume in itself. 

We observe further, that the voluntary and in- 
voluntary motions, in other words, all mechanical 
effects in the animal organism, are accompanied by, 
nay, are dependant on, a peculiar change of form 
and structure in the substance of certain living 
parts, the increase or diminution of which change 
stands in the very closest relation to the measure of 
motion, or the amount of force consumed in the 
motions performed. 

As an immediate effect of the manifestation of 
mechanical force, we see, that a part of the mus- 
cular substance loses its vital properties, its cha- 
racter of life; that this portion separates from the 
living part, and loses its capacity of growth and its 
power of resistance. We find that this change of 
properties is accompanied by the entrance of a 
foreign body (oxygen) into the composition of the 
muscular fibre (just as the acid lost its chemical 
character by combining with zinc); and all experi- 
ence proves, that this conversion of living muscular 
fibre into compounds destitute of vitality is accele- 
rated or retarded according to the amount of force 
employed to produce motion. Nay, it may safely 
be affirmed, that they are mutually proportional ; 


IN THE ANIMAL ORGANISM. 221 


that a rapid transformation of muscular fibre, or, as 
it may be called, a rapid change of matter, deter- 
mines a greater amount of mechanical force; and 
conversely, that a greater amount of mechanical 
motion (of mechanical foree expended in motion) 
determines a more rapid change of matter. 

From this decided relation between the change 
of matter in the animal body and the force con- 
sumed in mechanical motion, no other conclusion 
can be drawn but this, that the active or available 
vital force in certain living parts is the cause of the 
mechanical phenomena in the animal organism. 

The moving force certainly proceeds from living 
parts ; these parts possessed a momentum of force 
or of motion, which they lost in proportion as other 
parts acquired a momentum of force or of motion; 
they lose their capacity of growth, and their power 
to resist external causes of change. It is obvious 
that the ultimate cause, the vital force, from which 
they acquired those properties, has served for the 
production of mechanical force, that is, has been 
expended in the shape of motion. 

How, indeed, could we conceive that a living part 
should lose the condition of life, should become in- 
capable of resisting the action of the oxygen con- 
veyed to it by the arterial blood, and should be 
deprived of the power to overcome chemical re- 
sistance, unless the momentum of the vital force, 
which had given to it all these properties, had been 
expended for other purposes ? 


oF? THE PHENOMENA OF MOTION 


By the power of the conductors, the nerves, to 
propagate the momentum of force in a living part, 
or the effect which the active vital force inherent in 
the part produces on all the surrounding parts, in 
all directions where the force, or rather its mo- 
mentum of motion, is consumed without resistance 
(for without motion no change of matter occurs, 
and when motion has begun, there is no longer re- 
sistance), an equilibrium is obviously established in 
the living part, between the chemical forces and 
the remaining vital force ; which equilibrium would 
not have occurred had not vital force been expended 
in producing mechanical motion. 

In this state, any external cause capable of ex- 
erting an influence on the form, structure, and com- 
position of the organ meets with no further re- 
sistance. If oxygen were not conveyed to it, the 
organ would maintain its condition, but without any 
manifestation of vitality. It is only with the com- 
mencement of chemical action that the change of 
matter, that is, the separation of a part of the organ 
in the form of lifeless compounds, begins. 

The change of matter, the manifestation of me- 
chanical force, and the absorption of oxygen, are, in 
the animal body, so closely connected with each 
other, that we may consider the amount of motion, 
and the quantity of living tissue transformed, as 
proportional to the quantity of oxygen inspired and 
consumed in a given time by the animal. For a 
certain amount of motion, for a certain proportion 


IN THE ANIMAL ORGANISM 223 


of vital foree consumed as mechanical foree, an 
equivalent of chemical force is manifested; that is, 
an equivalent of oxygen enters into combination 
with the substance of the organ which has lost the 
vital force ; and a corresponding proportion of the 
substance of the organ is separated from the living 
tissue in the shape of an oxidised compound. 

All those parts of the body which nature has 
destined to effect the change of matter, that is, to 
the production of mechanical force, are penetrated 
in all directions by a multitude of the most minute 
tubes or vessels, in which a current of oxygen con- 
tinually circulates, in the form of arterial blood. 
To the above-mentioned separation of part of the 
elements of these parts, in other words, to the dis- 
turbance of their equilibrium, this oxygen is abso- 
lutely essential. 

As long as the vital force of these parts is not 
conducted away and applied to other purposes, the 
oxygen of the arterial blood has not the slightest 
effect on the substance of the organized parts; and 
in all cases, only so much oxygen is taken up as 
corresponds to the conducting power, and, conse- 
quently, to the mechanical effects produced. 

The oxygen of the atmosphere is the proper, ac- 
tive, external cause of the waste of matter in the 
animal body; it acts like a force which disturbs 
and tends to destroy the manifestation of the vital 
force at every moment. But its effect as a che- 
mical agent, the disturbance proceeding from it, is 


294 THE PHENOMENA OF MOTION 


held in equilibrium by the vital force, which is free 
and available in the living tissue, or is annihilated 
by a chemical agency opposed to that of oxygen, 
the manifestation of which must be considered as 
dependant on the vital force. 

In chemical language, to annihilate the chemical 
action of oxygen, means, to present to it substances, 
or parts of organs, which are capable of combining 
with it. 

The action of oxygen (affinity) is either neutra- 
lized by means of the elements of organized parts, 
which combine with it (after the free vital force has 
been conducted away), or else the organ presents to 
it the products of other organs, or certain matters 
formed from the elements of the food, by the vital 
activity of certain systems of apparatus. 

It is only the muscular system which, in this 
sense, produces in itself a resistance to the che- 
mical action of oxygen, and neutralizes it com- 
pletely. 

The substance of cellular tissue, of membranes, 
and of the skin, the minutest particles of which are 
not in immediate contact with arterial blood (with 
oxygen), are not destined to undergo this change of 
matter. Whatever changes they may undergo in 
the vital process, affect, in all cases, only their 
surface. 

The gelatinous tissues, muccus membranes, ten- 
dons, &c., are not designed to produce mechanical 
force; they contain in their substance no con- 


IN THE ANIMAL ORGANISM. 995 


ductors of mechanical effects. But the muscular 
system is interwoven with innumerable nerves. 
The substance of the uterus is in no respect differ- 
ent in chemical composition from the other mus- 
cles; but it is not adapted to the change of matter, 
to the production of force, and contains no organs 
for conducting away the moving power. Cellular 
tissue, gelatinous membranes, and mucous mem- 
branes, are far from being destitute of the power of 
combining with oxygen, when moisture is present ; 
we know that, when moist, they cannot be brought 
in contact with oxygen without undergoing a pro- 
gressive alteration. But one surface of the intes- 
tines and the cells of the lungs are constantly in 
contact with oxygen; and it is obvious that they 
must be as rapidly altered by the chemical action of 
the oxygen in the body as out of it, were it not 
that there exists in the organism itself a source of 
resistance, which completely neutralizes the action 
of the oxygen. Among the means by which this 
resistance is furnished we may include all sub- 
stances which are capable of combining with oxy- 
gen, or acquire that property under the influence 
of the vital force, and which surpass the tissues 
above mentioned in their power of neutralizing its 
chemical action. 

All those constituents of the body which, in 
themselves, do not possess, in the form of vital 
force, the power of resisting the action of oxygen, 
must be far better adapted for the purpose of com- 

Q 


226 THE PHENOMENA OF MOTION 


bining with, and neutralizing it, than those tissues 
which are under the influence of the vital force, 
although only through the nerves. In this point of 
view, we cannot fail to perceive the importance of 
the bile in regard to the substance of the intestines, 
and that of the pulmonary cells, as well as that of 
fat, of mucus, and of the secretions generally. 

When the membranes are compelled from their 
own substance to furnish resistance to the action 
of the oxygen, that is, when there is a deficiency of 
the substances destined by nature for their protec- 
tion, they must, since their renewal is confined 
within narrow limits, yield to the chemical action. 
The lungs and intestines will always simultaneously 
suffer abnormal changes. 

From the change of matter itself, from the meta- 
morphosis of the living muscular tissue, these organs 
receive the means of resistance to the action of oxy- 
gen which are indispensable to their preservation. 
According to the rapidity of this process, the quan- 
tity of bile secreted increases; while that of the fat 
present in the body diminishes in the same propor- 
tion. 

For carrying on the involuntary motions in the 
-animal body, a certain amount of vital force is ex- 
pended at every moment of its existence; and, con- 
sequently, an incessant change of matter goes on; 
but the amount of living tissue, which, in conse- 
quence of this form of consumption of vital force, 
loses its condition of life and its capacity of growth, 


-IN THE ANIMAL ORGANISM, 227 


is confined within narrow limits. It is directly 
proportional to the force required for these involun- 
tary motions. 

Now, although we may suppose that the living 
muscular tissue, with a sufficient supply of food, 
never loses its capacity of growth; that this form 
of vital manifestation is continually effective; this 
cannot apply to those parts of the body whose avail- 
able vital force has been expended in producing me- 
chanical effects. For the waste of matter, in con- 
sequence of motion and laborious exertion, is ex- 
tremely various in different individuals. 

If we reflect, that the slightest motion of a finger 
consumes force; that in consequence of the force 
expended, a corresponding portion of muscle dimi- 
_nishes in volume; it is obvious, that an egutlebrium 
between supply and waste of matter (in living tissues) 
can only occur when the portion separated or ex- 
pelled in a lifeless form is, at the same instant in 
which it loses its vital condition, restored in another 
part. 

The capacity of growth or increase in mass de- 
pends on the momentum of force belonging to each 
part ; and must be capable of continued manifesta- 
tion (if there be a sufficient supply of nourishment), 
as long as it does not lose this momentum, by ex- 
pending it, for example, in producing motion. 

In all circumstances, the growth itself is restricted 
to the time; that is to say, it cannot be unlimited 
in a limited time. 

Q 2 


228 THE PHENOMENA OF MOTION 


A living part cannot increase in volume at the 
same moment in which a portion of it loses the 
vital condition, and is expelled from the organ in 
the form of a lifeless compound; on the contrary, 
its volume must diminish. 

The continued application of the momentum of 
force in living tissues to mechanical effects deter- 
mines, therefore, a continued separation of matter ; 
and only from the period at which the cause of 
waste ceases to operate, can the capacity of growth 
be manifested. 

Now, since, in different individuals, according to 
the amount of force consumed in producing volun- 
tary mechanical effects, unequal quantities of living 
tissue are wasted, there must occur, in every indi- 
vidual, unless the phenomena of motion are to cease 
entirely, a condition in which all voluntary mo- 
tions are completely checked, in which, therefore, 
these occasion no waste. This condition is called 
sleep. 

The growth of one part, which is not deprived of 
its vital force, cannot be in the slightest degree 
affected by the consumption of the vital force of 
another part in producing motion. The one may 
increase in volume, while the other diminishes; and 
the waste in one can neither increase nor diminish 
the supply in the other. 

Now, since the consumption of force for the in- 
voluntary motions continues in sleep, it is plain that 
a waste of matter also continues in that state; and 


IN THE ANIMAL ORGANISM. 229 


if the original equilibrium is to be restored, we must 
suppose that, during sleep, an amount of force is 
accumulated in the form of living tissue, exactly 
equal to that which was consumed in voluntary and 
involuntary motion during the preceding waking 
period. 

If the equilibrium between waste and supply of 
matter be in the least degree disturbed, this is in- 
stantly seen in the different amount of force avail- 
able for mechanical purposes. 

It is further obvious, that if there should occur a 
disproportion between the conducting power of the 
nerves of voluntary and involuntary motion, a dif- 
ference in the phenomena of motion themselves 
will be perceptible, in the same proportion as the 
one or the other is capable of propagating the 
momentum of force, generated by the change of 
matter. As the motions of the circulating system 
and of the intestines increase, the power of pro- 
ducing mechanical effects in the limbs must dimi- 
nish in the same proportion (as in wasting fevers) ; 
and if, in a given time, more vital force has been 
consumed for mechanical purposes (labour, running, 
dancing, &c.) than is properly available for the vo- 
luntary and involuntary motions; if force be ex- 
pended more rapidly than the change of matter can 
be effected in the same time; then a part of that 
force which is necessary for the involuntary mo- 
tions must be expended in restoring the excess of 
force consumed in voluntary motion. The motions 


230 THE PHENOMENA OF MOTION 


of the heart and of the intestines, in this case, will 
be retarded, or will entirely cease. 

From the unequal degree of conducting power in 
the nerves, we must deduce those conditions which 
are termed paralysis, syncope, and spasm. Para- 
lysis of the nerves of voluntary motion may exist 
without emaciation; but frequently recurring at- 
tacks of epilepsy (in which vital force is rapidly 
wasted in producing mechanical effects) are always 
accompanied by remarkably rapid emaciation. 

It ought to excite the highest admiration when 
we consider with what infinite wisdom the Creator 
has divided the means by which animals and plants 
are qualified for their functions, for their peculiar 
vital manifestations. 

The living part of a plant acquires the whole 
force and direction of its vital energy from the ab- 
sence of all conductors of force. By this means the 
leaf is enabled to overcome the strongest chemical 
attractions, to decompose carbonic acid, and to as- 
similate the elements of its nourishment. 

In the flower alone does a process similar to the 
change of matter in the animal body occur. There, 
phenomena of motion appear; but the mechanical 
effects are not propagated to a distance, owing to 
the absence of conductors of force. 

The same vital force which we recognize in the 
plant as an almost unlimited capacity of growth, 
is converted in the animal body into moving 
power (into a current of vital force); and a most 


IN THE ANIMAL ORGANISM. 231 


wonderful and wise economy has destined for the 
nourishment of the animal only such compounds as 
have a composition identical with that of the organs 
which generate force, that is, with the muscular 
tissue. The expenditure of force which the living 
parts of animals require, in order to reproduce 
themselves from the blood; the resistance of the 
chemical force which has to be overcome in the 
azotised constituents of food by the vital agency of 
the organs destined to convert them into blood ; 
these are as nothing compared to the force with 
which the elements of carbonic acid are held to- 
gether. <A certain amount of force would necessa- 
rily be prevented from assuming the form of moy- 
ing power, if it were to be expended in overcoming 
chemical resistance; for the momentum of motion 
of the vital force is diminished by all obstacles. But 
the conversion of the constituents of blood into mus- 
cular fibre (into an organ which generates force) is 
only a change of form. Both have the same com- 
position ; blood is fluid, muscular fibre is solid blood. 
We may even suppose that this change takes place 
without any expenditure of vital force; for the mere 
passage of a fluid body into the solid state requires 
no manifestation of force, but only the removal of 
obstacles, which oppose that force (cohesion), which 
determines the form of matter, in its manifestations. 

In what form or in what manner the vital force 
produces mechanical effects in the animal body is 
altogether unknown, and is as little to be ascer- 


732. THE PHENOMENA OF MOTION 


tained by experiment as the connection of chemical 
action with the phenomena of motion which we can 
produce with the galvanic battery. AI! the expla- 
nations which have been attempted are only repre- 
sentations of the phenomenon; they are, more or 
less, exact descriptions and comparisons of known 
phenomena with these, whose cause is unknown. 
In this respect we are like an ignorant man, to 
whom the rise and fall of an iron rod in a cylinder, 
in which the eye can perceive nothing, and its con- 
nection with the turning and motion of a thousand 
wheels at a distance from the piston-rod, appear 
incomprehensible. 

We know not how a certain something, invisible 
and imponderable in itself (heat), gives to certain 
bodies the power of exerting an enormous pressure 
on surrounding objects ; we know not even how this 
something itself is produced when we burn wood or 
coals. 

So is it with the vital force, and with the phe- 
nomena exhibited by living bodies. The cause of 
these phenomena is not chemical force; it is not 
electricity, nor magnetism; it is a force which has 
certain properties in common with all causes of 
motion and of change in form and structure in mate- 
rial substances. It isa peculiar force, because it ex- 
hibits manifestations which are found in no other 
known force. 


IN THE ANIMAL ORGANISM. 233 


ia 


In the living plant, the intensity of the vital force 
far exceeds that of the chemical action of oxygen. 

We know, with the utmost certainty, that, by 
the influence of the vital force, oxygen is separated 
from elements to which it has the strongest affinity ; 
that it is given out in the gaseous form, without 
exerting the slightest action on the juices of the 
plant. 

How powerful, indeed, must the resistance ap- 
pear which the vital force supplies to leaves charged 
with oil of turpentine or tannic acid, when we con- 
sider the affinity of oxygen for these compounds! 

This intensity of action or of resistance the plant 
obtains by means of the sun’s light; the effect of 
which in chemical actions may be, and is, com- 
pared to that of a very high temperature (a mode- 
rate red heat). 

During the night an opposite process goes on in 
the plant ; we see then that the constituents of the 
leaves and green parts combine with the oxygen of 
the air, a property which in daylight they did not 
possess. 

From these facts we can draw no other conclu- 
sion but this: that the intensity of the vital force 
diminishes with the abstraction of light; that with 
the approach of night a state of equilibrium is esta- 
blished, and that in complete darkness all those con- 


234 THE PHENOMENA OF MOTION 


stituents of plants which, during the day, possessed 
the power of separating oxygen from chemical com- 
binations, and of resisting its action, lose this power 
completely. 

A precisely similar phenomenon is observed in 
animals. 

The living animal body exhibits its peculiar mani- 
festations of vitality only at certain temperatures. 
When exposed to a certain degree of cold, these 
vital phenomena entirely cease. 

The abstraction of heat must, therefore, be viewed 
as quite equivalent to a diminution of the vital 
energy ; the resistance opposed by the vital force to 
external causes of disturbance must diminish, in 
certain temperatures, in the same ratio in which the 
tendency of the elements of the body to combine 
with the oxygen of the air increases. . 

By the combination of oxygen with the consti- 
tuents of the metamorphosed tissues, the tempera- 
ture necessary to the manifestations of vitality is 
produced in the carnivora. In the herbivora, again, 
a certain amount of heat is developed by means of 
those elements of their non-azotised food which 
have the property of combining with oxygen. 

It is obvious that the temperature of an animal 
body cannot change, if the amount of inspired oxy- 
gen increases in the same ratio as the loss of heat 
by external cooling. 

Two individuals, carnivora, of equal weight, ex- 
posed to unequal degrees of cold, lose, in a given 


IN THE ANIMAL ORGANISM. 935 


time, by external cooling, unequal quantities of 
heat. Experience teaches, that if their peculiar 
temperature and their original weight are to remain 
unaltered, they require unequal quantities of food ; 
more in the lower temperature than in the higher. 

The circumstance that the original weight remains 
the same, with unequal quantities of food, obviously 
presupposes, that in the same time a quantity of 
oxygen proportional to the temperature has been 
absorbed; more in the lower than in the higher 
temperature. 

We find that the weight of both individuals, at 
the end of 24 hours, is equal to the original weight. 
But we have assumed that their food is converted 
into blood; that the blood has served for nutrition ; 
and it is plain, that when the original weight has 
been restored, a quantity of the constituents of the 
body, equal in weight to those of the food, has lost 
its condition of life, and has been expelled in com- 
bination with oxygen. 

The one individual, which, being exposed to the 
lower temperature, consumed more food, has also 
absorbed more oxygen; a greater quantity of the 
constituents of its body has been separated in com- 
bination with oxygen; and, in consequence of this 
combination with oxygen, a greater amount of heat 
has been liberated, by which means the heat ab- 
stracted has been restored, and the proper tempera- 
ture of the body kept up. 

Consequently, by the abstraction of heat, provided 


236 THE PHENOMENA OF MOTION 


there be a full supply of food and free access of 
oxygen, the change of matter must be accelerated ; 
and, along with the augmented transformation, in a 
given time, of living tissues, a greater amount of 
vital force must be rendered available for mecha- 
nical purposes. 

With the external cooling, the respiratory mo- 
tions become stronger; in a lower temperature more 
oxygen is conveyed to the blood; the waste of 
matter increases, and if the supply be not kept in 
equilibrium with this waste, by means of food, the 
temperature of the body gradually sinks. 

But, in a given time, an unlimited supply of 
oxygen cannot be introduced into the body; only a 
certain amount of living tissue can lose the state of 
life, and only a limited amount of vital force can be 
manifested in mechanical phenomena. It is only, 
therefore, when the cooling, the generation of force, 
and the absorption of oxygen are in equilibrium 
together, that the temperature of the body can re- 
main unchanged. If the loss of heat by cooling go 
beyond a certain point, the vital phenomena dimi- 
nish in the same ratio; for the temperature falls, 
and the temperature must be considered as a uni- 
form condition of their manifestation. 

Now experience teaches, that when the tempera- 
ture of the body sinks, the power of the limbs to 
produce mechanical effects (or the force necessary 
to the voluntary motions) is also diminished. The 
condition of sleep ensues, and at last even the invo- 


IN THE ANIMAL ORGANISM. 237 


luntary motions (those of the heart and intestines, 
for example) cease, and apparent death or syncope 
supervenes. 

It is obvious that the cause of the generation of 
force, namely the change of matter, is diminished, 
because, with the abstraction of heat, as in the plant 
by abstraction of light, the intensity of the vital force 
diminishes. It is also obvious that the momentum 
of force in a living part depends on its proper tem- 
perature; exactly as the effect of a falling body 
stands in a fixed relation to certain other conditions ; 
for example, to the velocity attained in falling. 

When the temperature sinks, the vital energy 
diminishes ; when it again rises, the momentum of 
force in the living parts appears once more in all its 
original intensity. 

The production of force for mechanical purposes, 
and the temperature of the body, must, consequently, 
bear a fixed relation to the amount of oxygen which 
can be absorbed in a given time by the animal body. 

The quantities of oxygen which a whale and a 
carrier's horse can inspire in a given time are very 
unequal. The temperature, as well as the quantity 
of oxygen, is much greater in the horse. 

The force exerted by a whale, when struck with 
the harpoon, his body being supported by the sur- 
rounding medium, and the force exerted by a car- 
rier’s horse, which carries its own weight and a 
heavy burden for eight or ten hours, must both bear 
the same ratio to the oxygen consumed. If we 


238 THE PHENOMENA OF MOTION 


take into consideration the time during which the 
force is manifested, it is obvious that the amount of 
force developed by the horse is far greater than in 
the case of the whale. 

In climbing high mountains, where, in conse- 
quence of the respiration of a highly rarefied atmo- 
sphere, much less oxygen is conveyed to the blood, 
in equal times, than in valleys or at the level of the 
sea, the change of matter diminishes in the same 
ratio, and with it the amount of foree available for 
mechanical purposes. For the most part, drowsiness 
and want of force for mechanical exertions come 
on; after twenty or thirty steps, fatigue compels us 
to a fresh accumulation of force by means of rest 
(absorption of oxygen without waste of force in 
voluntary motions). 

By the absorption of oxygen into the substance 
of living tissues, these lose their condition of life, 
and are separated as lifeless, unorganised com- 
pounds ; but the whole of the inspired oxygen is not 
applied to these transformations: the greater part 
serves to convert into gas and yapour all matters 
which no longer belong to the organism; and, as 
formerly mentioned, the combination of the ele- 
ments of such compounds with the oxygen produces 
the temperature proper to the animal organism. 

The production of heat and the change of matter 
are closely related to each other ; but although heat 
can be produced in the body without any change of 
matter in living tissues, yet the change of matter 


IN THE ANIMAL ORGANISM. 939 


cannot be supposed to take place without the co- 
operation of oxygen. 

According to all the observations hitherto made, 
neither the expired air, nor the perspiration, nor the 
urine, contains any trace of alcohol, after indulgence 
in spirituous liquors; and there can be no doubt 
that the elements of alcohol combine with oxygen 
in the body ; that its carbon and hydrogen are given 
off as carbonic acid and water. 

The oxygen which has accomplished this change 
must have been taken from the arterial blood; for 
we know of no channel, save the circulation of the 
blood, by which oxygen can penetrate into the inte- 
rior of the body. 

Owing to its volatility, and the ease with which 
its vapour permeates animal membranes and tissues, 
alcohol can spread throughout the body in all direc- 
tions. 

If the power of the elements of alcohol to com- 
bine with oxygen were not greater than that of the 
compounds formed by the change of matter, or that 
of the substance of living tissues, they (the elements 
of alcohol) could not combine with oxygen in the 
body. 

It is, consequently, obvious, that by the use of 
alcohol a limit must rapidly be put to the change 
of matter in certain parts of the body. The oxygen 
of the arterial blood, which, in the absence of alco- 
hol, would have combined with the matter of the 
tissues, or with that formed by the metamorphosis 


240 THE PHENOMENA OF MOTION 


of these tissues, now combines with the elements of 
alcohol. The arterial blood becomes venous, with- 
out the substance of the muscles having taken any 
share in the transformation. 

Now we observe, that the developement of heat 
in the body, after the use of wine, increases rather 
than diminishes, without the manifestation of a cor- 
responding amount of mechanical force. 

A moderate quantity of wine, in women and chil- 
dren unaccustomed to its use, produces, on the con-— 
trary, a diminution of the force necessary for volun- 
tary motions. Weariness, feebleness in the limbs, 
and drowsiness, plainly shew that the force available 
for mechanical purposes, in other words, the change 
of matter, has been diminished. 

A diminution of the conducting power of the 
nerves of voluntary motion may doubtless take a 
certain share in producing these symptoms; but this 
must be altogether without influence on the sum of 
available force. 

What the conductors of voluntary motion cannot 
carry away for effects of force, must be taken up by 
the nerves of involuntary motion, and conveyed to 
the heart, lungs, and intestines. In this case, the 
circulation will appear accelerated at the expense of 
the force available for voluntary motion; but, as 
was before remarked, without the production of a 
greater amount of mechanical force by the process 
of oxidation of the alcohol. 

Finally, we observe, in hybernating animals, that, 


IN THE ANIMAL ORGANISM. 241 


during their winter sleep, the capacity of increase in 
mass (one of the chief manifestations of ‘the vital 
force), owing to the absence of food, is entirely sup- 
pressed. In several, apparent death occurs in con- 
sequence of the low temperature and of the diminu- 
tion- of vital energy thus produced; in others, the 
involuntary motions continue, and the animal pre- 
serves a temperature independent of the surround- 
ing temperature. The respirations go on; oxygen, 
the condition which determines the production of 
heat and of force, is absorbed now as well as in the 
former state of the animal; and previous to the 
winter sleep, we find all those parts of their body, 
which in themselves are unable to furnish resistance 
to the action of the oxygen, and which, like the 
intestines and membranes, are not destined for the 
change of matter, covered with fat; that is, sur- 
rounded by a substance which supplies the want of 
resistance. 

If we now suppose, that the oxygen absorbed 
during the winter sleep combines, not with the ele- 
ments of living tissues, but with those of the fat, 
then the living part, although a certain momentum 
of motion be expended in keeping up the cireula- 
tion, will not be separated and expelled from the 
body. | 

With the return of the higher temperature, the 
capacity of growth increases in the same ratio, and 
the motion of the blood increases with the absorp- 
tion of oxygen. Many of these animals become 

R 


242 THE PHENOMENA OF MOTION 


emaciated during the winter sleep, others not till 
after awaking from it. 

In hybernating animals the active force of the 
living parts is exclusively devoted, during hyberna- 
tion, to the support of the involuntary motions. The 
expenditure of force in voluntary motion is entirely 
suppressed. 

In contradistinction to these phenomena, we 
know that, in the case of excess of motion and 
exertion, the active force in living parts may be 
exclusively and entirely consumed in producing 
voluntary mechanical effects; in suchwise that no 
force shall remain available for the involuntary mo- 
tions. A stag may be hunted to death; but this 
cannot occur without the metamorphosis of all the 
living parts of its muscular system, and its fiesh be- 
comes uneatable. The condition of metamorphosis 
into which it has been brought by an enormous 
consumption both of force and of oxygen, continues 
when all phenomena of motion have ceased. In the 
living tissues, all the resistance offered by the vital 
force to external agencies of change is entirely de- 
stroyed. 

But however closely the conditions of the produc- 
tion of heat and of force may seem to be connected 
together, with reference to mechanical effects, yet 
the disengagement of heat can in no way be consi- 
dered as in itself the only cause of these effects. 

All experience proves, that there is, in the organ- 
ism, only one source of mechanical power ; and this 


IN THE ANIMAL ORGANISM. 243 


source is the conversion of living parts into lifeless, 
amorphous compounds. 

Proceeding from this truth, which is independent 
of all theory, animal life may be viewed as deter- 
mined by the mutual action of opposed forces ; of 
which one class must be considered as causes of in- 
crease (of supply of matter), and the other as causes 
of diminution (of waste of matter). 

The increase of mass is effected in living parts by 
the vital force; the manifestation of this power is 
dependant on heat; that is, on a certain tempera- 
ture peculiar to each specific organism. 

The cause of waste of matter is the chemi- 
eal action of oxygen; and its manifestation is de- 
pendant on the abstraction of heat as well as on 
the expenditure of the vital force for mechanical 
purposes. 

The act of waste of matter is called the change of 
matter ; it occurs in consequence of the absorption of 
oxygen into the substance of living parts. This ab- 
sorption of oxygen occurs only when the resistance 
which the vital force of living parts opposes to the 
chemical action of the oxygen is weaker than that che- 
mical action ; and this weaker resistance is determined 
by the abstraction of heat, or by the expenditure in 
mechanical motions of the available force of living 
parts. 

By the combination of the oxygen introduced in 
the arterial blood with such constituents of the body 
as offer no resistance to its action, the temperature 

R2 


244 THE PHENOMENA OF MOTION 


necessary for the manifestation of vital activity is 
produced. 

From the relations between the consumption of 
oxygen on the one hand, and the change of matter 
and developement of heat on the other, the follow- 
ing general rules may be deduced. 

For every proportion of oxygen which enters into 
combination in the body, a corresponding proportion 
of heat must be generated. 

The sum of force available for mechanical pur- 
poses must be equal to the sum of the vital forces 
of all tissues adapted to the change of matter. 

If, in equal times, unequal quantities of oxygen 
are consumed, the result is obvious, in an unequal 
amount of heat liberated, and of mechanical force. 

When unequal amounts of mechanical force are 
expended, this determines the absorption of corre- 
sponding and unequal quantities of oxygen. 

For the conversion of living tissues into lifeless 
compounds, and for the combination of oxygen with 
such constituents of the body as have an affinity for 
it, time is required. 

In a given time, only a limited amount of me- 
chanical force can be manifested, and only a limited 
amount of heat can be liberated. 

That which is expended, in mechanical effects, in 
the shape of velocity, is lost in time; that is to say, 
the more rapid the motions are, the sooner or the 
more quickly is the force exhausted. 

The sum of the mechanical force produced in a 


IN THE ANIMAL ORGANISM. 945 


given time is equal to the sum of force necessary, 
during the same time, to produce the voluntary and 
involuntary motions; that is, all the force which 
the heart, intestines, &c., require for their motions 
is lost to the voluntary motions. 

The amount of azotised food necessary to restore 
the equilibrium between waste and supply is directly 
proportional to the amount of tissues metamor- 
phosed. 

The amount of living matter, which in the body 
loses the condition of life, is, in equal temperatures, 
directly proportional to the mechanical effects pro- 
duced in a given time. 

The amount of tissue metamorphosed in a given 
time may be measured by the quantity of nitrogen 
in the urine. 

The sum of the mechanical effects produced in 
two individuals, in the same temperature, is propor- 
tional to the amount of nitrogen in their urine ; 
whether the mechanical force has been employed in 
voluntary or involuntary motions, whether it has 
been consumed by the limbs or by the heart and 
other viscera. 

That condition of the body which is called health 
includes the conception of an equilibrium among 
all the causes of waste and of supply; and thus 
animal life is recognized as the mutual action of 
both ; and appears as an alternating destruction and 
restoration of the state of equilibrium. 

In regard to its absolute amount, the waste and 


246 THE PHENOMENA OF MOTION 


supply of matter is, in the different periods of life, 
unequal; but, in the state of health, the available 
vital force must always be considered as a constant 
quantity, corresponding to the sum of living par- 
ticles. 

Growth, or the increase of mass, stands, at every 
age, in a fixed relation to the amount of vital force 
consumed as moving power. 

The vital force, which is expended for mechanical 
purposes, is subtracted from the sum of the force 
available for the purpose of increase of mass. 

The active force, which is consumed in the body 
in overcoming resistance (in causing increase of 
mass), cannot, at the same time, be employed to 
produce mechanical effects. 

Hence it follows necessarily, that when, as in 
childhood, the supply exceeds the waste of matter, 
the mechanical effects produced must be less in the 
same proportion. 

With the increase of mechanical effects produced, 
the capacity of increase of mass or of the supply of 
waste in living tissues must diminish in the same 
proportion. 

A perfect balance between the consumption of 
vital force for supply of matter and that for me- 
chanical effects occurs, therefore, only in the adult 
state, It is at once recognized in the complete 
supply of the matter consumed. In old age more 
is wasted; in childhood more is supplied than 
wasted. 


IN THE ANIMAL ORGANISM. 247 


The force available for mechanical purposes in an 
adult man is reckoned, in mechanics, equal to 4th 
of his own weight, which he can move during eight 
hours, with a velocity of five feet in two seconds. 

If the weight of a man be 150 Ibs., his force is 
equal to a weight of 30 Ibs. carried by him to a 
distance of 72,000 feet. For every second his 
momentum of force is — 30 2°5 = 75 |bs.; and for 
the whole day’s work, his momentum of motion 
is = 30 X 72,000 — 216,000. 

By the restoration of the original weight of his 
body, the man collects again a sum of force which 
allows him, next day, to produce, without exhaus- 
tion, the same amount of mechanical effects. 

This supply of force is furnished in a seven hours’ 
sleep. 

In manufactories of rolled iron it frequently hap- 
pens, that the pressure of the engine, going at its 
ordinary rate, is not sufficient to force a rod of iron 
of a certain thickness to pass below the cylinders. 
The workman, in this case, allows the whole force 
of the steam to act on the revolving wheel, and not 
until this has acquired a great velocity does he bring 
the rod under the rollers; when it is instantly flat- 
tened with great ease into a plate, while the wheel 
gradually loses the velocity it had acquired. What 
the wheel gained in velocity, the roller gained in 
force ; by this process force was obviously collected, 
accumulated in the velocity ; but in this sense force 
does not accumulate in the living organism. 


248 THE PHENOMENA OF MOTION 


The restoration of force is effected, in the animal 
body, by the transformation of the separated parts, 
destined for the production of force, and by the ex- 
penditure of the active vital force in causing forma- 
tion of new parts; and, with the restoration of the 
separated or effete parts, the organism recovers a 
force equal to that which has been expended. 

It is plain, that the vital force manifested, during 
sleep, in the formation of new parts must be equal 
to the whole sum of the moving power expended in 
the waking state in all mechanical effects whatever, 
plus a certain amount of force, which is required for 
carrying on those involuntary motions which con- 
tinue during sleep. 

From day to day, the labouring man, with suffi- 
cient food, recovers, in seven hours’ sleep, the whole 
sum of force; and without reckoning the force 
necessary for the involuntary motions which may 
be considered equal in all men, we may assume, that 
the mechanical force available for work is directly 
proportional to the number of hours of sleep. 

The adult man sleeps 7 hours, and wakes 17 
hours; consequently, 2f the equilibrium be restored in 
24 hours, the mechanical effects produced in 17 hours 
must be equal to the effects produced during 7 
hours in the shape of formation of new parts. 

An old man sleeps only 33 hours; and if every 
thing else be supposed the same as in the case of 
the adult, he will be able, at all events, to produce 
half of the mechanical effects produced by an adult 


IN THE ANIMAL ORGANISM. 249 


of equal weight; that is, he will be able to carry 
only 15 lbs. instead of 30 to the same distance. 

The infant at the breast sleeps 20 hours and 
wakes only four ; the active force consumed in forma- 
tion of new parts is, in this case, to that consumed in 
mechanical effects (in motion of the limbs), as 20 to 
4; but his limbs possess no momentum of force, for 
he cannot yet support his own body. If we assume, 
that the aged man and infant consume in mechani- 
eal effects a quantity of force corresponding to the 
proportion available in the adult, then the mechani- 
cal effects are proportional to the number of waking 
hours, the formation of new parts to the number of 
hours of sleep, and we shall have: 


Force expended in Force expended in 
mechanical effects. formation of new parts. 
Ent fhevad ult o4s ses. ily : 7 
In the miant, 5.5.4... 4 : 20 
in the old man *f..:0: 20 2 oh 


In the adult, a perfect equilibrium takes place 
between waste and supply; in the old man and in 
the infant, waste and supply are not in equilibrium. 
If we make the consumption of force in the 17 
waking hours equal to that required for the restora- 
tion of the equilibrium during sleep = 100 = 17 
waking hours, = 7 hours of sleep, we obtain the 
following proportions. The mechanical effects are 
to those in the shape of formation of new parts: 


In the adult man = 100:100 
In the infant ... = 25:250 
9 


In the old man... = 125: 50 


250 THE PHENOMENA OF MOTION 


Or the increase of mass to the diminution by 


waste: 
In the adult man = 100: 100 
In the infant ... = 100: 10 
In the old man... = 100: 250 


It is consequently clear, that if the old man 
performs an amount of work proportional to the 
sleeping hours of the adult, the waste will be greater 
than the supply; that is, his body will rapidly de- 
crease in weight, if he carry 15 lbs. to the distance 
of 72,000 feet with a velocity of 25 feet in the 
second; but he will be able, without injury, to 
carry 6 lbs. to the same distance. 

In the infant the increase is to the decrease as 
10 to 1, and consequently, if we in his case increase 
the expenditure of force in mechanical effects to ten 
times its proper amount, there will thus be estab- 
lished only an equilibrium between waste and sup- 
ply. The child, indeed, will not grow; but neither 
will it lose weight. 

If, in the adult man, the consumption of force 
for mechanical purposes in 24 hours be augmented 
beyond the amount restorable in seven hours of 
sleep, then, if the equilibrium is to be restored, less 
force, in the same proportion, must be expended in 
mechanical effects in the next 24 hours. If this be 
not done, the mass of the body decreases, and the 
state characteristic of old age more or less decidedly 
supervenes. 

With every hour of sleep the sum of available 


IN THE ANIMAL ORGANISM. 251 


force increases in the old man, or approaches the 
state of equilibrium between waste and supply 
which exists in the adult. 

It is further evident, that if a part of the force 
which is available for mechanical purposes, without 
disturbing the equilibrium, should not be consumed 
in moving the limbs, in raising weights, or in other 
labour, it will be available for involuntary motions. 
If the motion of the heart, of the fluids, and of the 
intestines (the circulation of the blood and diges- 
tion), are accelerated in proportion to the amount 
of force not consumed in voluntary motions, the 
weight of the body will neither increase nor diminish 
in 24 hours. The body, therefore, can only increase 
in mass, if the foree accumulated during sleep, and 
available for mechanical purposes, is employed nei- 
ther for voluntary nor for involuntary motions. 

The numerical values above given for the expen- 
diture of force in the human body refer, as has been 
expressly stated, only to a given, uniform tempe- 
rature. Ina different temperature, and with defi- 
cient nourishment, all these proportions must be 
changed. 

If we surround a part of the body with ice or 
snow, while other parts are left in the natural state, 
there occurs, more or less quickly, in consequence of 
the loss of heat, an accelerated change of matter in 
the cooled part. 

The resistance of the living tissues to the action 
of oxygen is weaker at the cooled part than in the 


25 THE PHENOMENA OF MOTION 


other parts ; and this, in its effects, is equivalent to 
an increase of resistance in these other parts. 

The momentum of force of the vitality in the 
parts which are not cooled is expended, as before, 
in mechanical motion; but the whole action of the 
inspired oxygen is exerted on the cooled part. 

If we imagine an iron cylinder, into which we 
admit steam under a certain pressure, then if the 
force with which the particles of the iron cohere be 
equal to the force which tends to separate them, an 
equilibrium will result ; that is, the whole effect of 
the steam will be neutralized by the resistance. 
But if one of the sides of the cylinder be moveable, 
a piston-rod, for example, and offer to the pressure 
of the steam a less resistance than other parts, the 
whole force will be expended in moving this one 
side—that is, in raising the piston-rod. If we do not 
introduce fresh steam (fresh force), an equilibrium 
will soon be established. The piston-rod resists a 
certain force without moving, but is raised by an in- 
creased pressure. When this excess of force has 
been consumed in motion, it cannot be raised 
higher; but if new vapour be continually admitted, 
the rod will continue to move. 

In the cooled part of the body, the living tissues 
offer a less resistance to the chemical action of the 
inspired oxygen; the power of the oxygen to unite 
with the elements of the tissues is, at this part, ex- 
alted. When the part has once lost its condition of 
life, resistance entirely ceases ; and in consequence of 


IN THE ANIMAL ORGANISM. 253 


the combination of the oxygen with the elements of 
the metamorphosed tissues, a greater amount of 
heat is liberated. 

For a given amount of oxygen, the heat produced 
is, in all cases, exactly the same. In the cooled 
part, the change of matter, and with it the disen- 
gagement of heat, increases; while in the other 
parts the change of matter and liberation of heat 
decrease. But when the cooled part, by the union 
of oxygen with the elements of the metamorphosed 
tissues, has recovered its original temperature, the 
resistance of its living particles to the oxygen con- 
veyed to them again increases, and, as the resistance 
of other parts is now diminished, a more rapid 
change of matter now occurs in them, their tempe- 
rature rises, and along with this, if the cause of the 
change of matter continue to operate, a larger 
amount of vital force becomes available for mecha- 
nical purposes. 

Let us now suppose that heat is abstracted from 
the whole surface of the body; in this case the 
whole action of the oxygen will be directed to the 
skin, and in a short time the change of matter 
must increase throughout the body. Fat, and all 
such matters as are capable of combining with the 
oxygen which is brought to them in larger quantity 
than usual, will be expelled from the body in the 
form of oxidised compounds. 


254 


LIL, 
THEORY OF DISEASE. 


Every substance or matter, every chemical or 
mechanical agency, which changes or disturbs the 
restoration of the equilibrium between the mani- 
festations of the causes of waste and supply, in such 
a way as to add its action to the causes of waste, is 
called a cause of disease. Disease occurs when the 
sum of vital: force, which tends to neutralize all 
causes of disturbance (in other words, when the 
resistance offered by the vital force), is weaker than 
the acting cause of disturbance. 

Death is that condition in which all resistance on 
the part of the vital force entirely ceases. So long 
as this condition is not established, the living tis- 
sues continue to offer resistance. 

To the observer, the action of a cause of disease 
exhibits itself in the disturbance of the proportion 
between waste and supply which is proper to each 
period of life. In medicine, every abnormal condi- 
tion of supply or of waste, in all parts or in a single 
part of the body, is called disease. 

It is evident that one and the same cause of dis- 
ease will produce in the organism very different 
effects, according to the period of life; and that a 
certain amount of disturbance, which produces dis- 
ease in the adult state, may be without influence in 


THEORY OF DISEASE. 255 


childhood or in old age. A cause of disease may, 
when it is added to the cause of waste in old age, 
produce death (annihilate all resistance on the part 
of the vital force); while in the adult state it may 
produce only a disproportion between supply and 
waste ; and in infancy, only an equilibrium between 
supply and waste (the abstract state of health). 

A cause of disease which strengthens the causes 
of supply, either directly, or indirectly by weakening 
the action of the causes of waste, destroys, in the 
child and in the adult, the relative normal state of 
health ; while in old age it merely brings the waste 
and supply into equilibrium. 

A child, lightly clothed, can bear cooling by a low 
external temperature without injury to health; the 
force available for mechanical purposes and the tem- 
perature of its body increase with the change of 
matter which follows the cooling; while a high 
temperature, which impedes the change of matter, 
is followed by disease. 

On the other hand, we see, in hospitals and chari- 
table institutions (in Brussels, for example) in which 
old people spend the last years of life, when the 
temperature of the dormitory, in winter, sinks 2 
or 3 degrees below the usual point, that by this 
slight degree of cooling the death of the oldest and 
weakest, males as well as females, is brought about. 
They are found lying tranquilly in bed, without the 
slightest symptoms of disease, or of the usual recog- 
nizable causes of death. 


256 THEORY OF DISEASE. 


A deficiency of resistance, in a living part, to the 
causes of waste is, obviously, a deficiency of resist- 
ance to the action of the oxygen of the atmosphere. 

When, from any cause whatever, this resistance 
diminishes in a living part, the change of matter 
increases in an equal degree. 

Now, since the phenomena of motion in the ani- 
mal body are dependant on the change of matter, 
the increase of the change of matter in any part is 
followed by an increase of all motions. According 
to the conducting power of the nerves, the available 
force is carried away by the nerves of involuntary 
motion alone, or by all the nerves together. 

Consequently, if, in consequence of a diseased 
transformation of living tissues, a greater amount of 
force be generated than is required for the produc- 
tion of the normal motions, it is seen in an accele- 
ration of all or some of the involuntary motions, as 
well as in a higher temperature of the diseased part. 

This condition is called fever. 

When a great excess of force is produced by 
change of matter, the force, since it can only be 
consumed by motion, extends itself to the apparatus 
of voluntary motion. 

This state is called a febrile paroxysm. 

In consequence of the acceleration of the cireu- 
lation in the state of fever, a greater amount of 
arterial blood, and, consequently, of oxygen, is con- 
veyed to the diseased part, as well as to all other 
parts; and if the active force in the healthy parts 


THEORY OF DISEASE. 257 


continue uniform, the whole action of the excess of 
oxygen must be exerted on the diseased part alone. 

According as a single organ, or a system of organs, 
is affected, the change of matter extends to one 
part alone, or to the whole affected system. 

Should there be formed, in the diseased parts, 
in consequence of the change of matter, from the 
elements of the blood or of the tissue, new products, 
which the neighbouring parts cannot employ for 
their own vital functions ;—should the surrounding 
parts, moreover, be unable to convey these products 
to other parts, where they may undergo transforma- 
tion, then these new products will suffer, at the place 
where they have been formed, a process of decom- 
position analogous to fermentation or putrefaction. 

In certain cases, medicine removes these diseased 
conditions, by exciting in the vicinity of the dis- 
eased part, or in any convenient situation, an artifi- 
cial diseased state (as by blisters, sinapisms, or 
setons); thus diminishing, by means of artificial 
disturbance, the resistance offered to the external 
causes of change in these parts by the vital force. 
The physician succeeds in putting an end to the 
original diseased condition, when the disturbance 
artificially excited (or the diminution of resistance 
in another part) exceeds in amount the diseased 
state to be overcome. 

The accelerated change of matter and the ele- 
vated temperature in the diseased part shew, that 
the resistance offered by the vital force to the 

S 


258 THEORY OF DISEASE. 


action of oxygen is feebler than in the healthy 
state. But this resistance only ceases entirely when 
death takes place. By the artificial diminution of 
resistance in another part, the resistance in the dis- 
eased organ is not indeed directly strengthened ; but 
the chemical action (the cause of the change of 
matter) is diminished in the diseased part, being di- 
rected to another part, where the physician has suc- 
ceeded in producing a still more feeble resistance 
to the change of matter (to the action of oxygen). 
A complete cure of the original disease occurs, 
when external action and resistance, in the diseased 
part, are brought into equilibrium. Health and the 
restoration of the diseased tissue to its original con- 
dition follow, when we are able so far to weaken 
the disturbing action of oxygen, by any means, that 
it becomes inferior to the resistance offered by the 
vital force, which, although enfeebled, has never 
ceased to act; for this proportion between these 
causes of change is the uniform and necessary con- 
dition of increase of mass in the living organism. 
In cases of a different kind, where artificial ex- 
ternal disturbance produces no effect, the physician 
adopts other indirect methods to exalt the resist- 
ance offered by the vital force. These methods, the 
result of ages of experience, are such, that the most 
perfect theory could hardly have pointed them out 
more acutely or more justly than has been done 
by the observation of sagacious practitioners. He - 
diminishes, by blood-letting, the number of the 


THEORY OF DISEASE. 259 


carriers of oxygen (the globules), and by this means 
the conditions of change of matter; he excludes 
from the food all such matters as are capable of 
conversion into blood; he gives chiefly or entirely 
non-azotised food, which supports the respiratory 
process, as well as fruit and vegetables, which con- 
tain the alkalies necessary for the secretions. 

If he succeed, by these means, in diminishing the 
action of the oxygen in the blood on the diseased 
part, so far that the vital force of the latter, its 
resistance, in the smallest degree overcomes the 
chemical action; and if he accomplish this, with- 
out arresting the functions of the other organs, then 
restoration to health is certain. 

To the method of cure adopted in such cases, if 
employed with sagacity and acute observation, there 
is added, as we may call it, an ally on the side of 
the diseased organ, and this is the vital force of the 
healthy parts. For, when blood is abstracted, the 
external causes of change are diminished also in 
them, and their vital force, formerly neutralized by 
these causes, now obtains the preponderance. The 
change of matter, indeed, is diminished throughout 
the body, and with it the phenomena of motion ; 
but the sum of all resisting powers, taken together, 
increases in proportion as the amount of the oxygen 
acting on them in the blood is diminished. In the 
sensation of hunger, this resistance, in a certain 
sense, makes itself known; and the preponderat- 
ing vital force exhibits itself, in many patients 

s 2 


260 THEORY OF DISEASE. 


when hunger is felt, in the form of an abnormal 
growth, or an abnormal metamorphosis of certain 
parts of organs. Sympathy is the transference of 
diminished resistance from one part, not exactly to 
the next, but to more distant organs, when the 
functions of both mutually influence each other. 
When the action of the diseased organ is connected 
with that of another—when, for example, the one 
no longer produces the matters necessary to the per- 
formance of the functions of the other—then the 
diseased condition is transferred, but only appa- 
rently, to the latter. 

In regard to the nature and essence of the vital 
force, we can hardly deceive ourselves, when we 
reflect, that it behaves, in all its manifestations, 
exactly like other natural forces; that it is devoid 
of consciousness or of volition, and is subject to the 
action of a blister. 

The nerves, which accomplish the voluntary and 
involuntary motions in the body, are, according to 
the preceding exposition, not the producers, but 
only the conductors of the vital force ; they propa- 
gate motion, and behave towards other causes of 
motion, which in their manifestations are analogous 
to the vital force, towards a current of electricity, 
for example, in a precisely analogous manner. They 
permit the current to traverse them, and present, as 
conductors of electricity, all the phenomena which 
they exhibit as conductors of the vital force. In 
the present state of our knowledge, no one, proba- 


THEORY OF DISEASE. 261 


bly, will imagine that electricity is to be considered 
as the cause of the phenomena of motion in the 
body ; but still, the medicinal action of electricity, 
as well as that of a magnet, which, when placed in 
contact with the body, produces a current of elec- 
tricity, cannot be denied. For to the existing force 
of motion or of disturbance there is added, in the 
electrical current, a new cause of motion and of 
change in form and structure, which cannot be 
considered as altogether inefficient. 

Practical medicine, in many diseases, makes use 
of cold in a highly rational manner, as a means of 
exalting and accelerating, in an unwonted degree, the 
change of matter. This occurs especially in certain 
morbid conditions in the substance of the centre of 
the apparatus of motion ; when a glowing heat and a 
rapid current of blood towards the head point out an 
abnormal metamorphosis of the brain. When this 
condition continues beyond a certain time, experi- 
ence teaches that all motions in the body cease. If 
the change of matter be chiefly confined to the 
brain, then the change of matter, the generation of 
force, diminishes in all other parts. By surrounding 
the head with ice, the temperature is lowered, but 
the cause of the liberation of heat continues; the 
metamorphosis, which decides the issue of the dis- 
ease, is limited to a short period. We must not 
forget, that the ice melts and absorbs heat from the 
diseased part; that if the ice be removed before the 
completion of the metamorphosis, the temperature 


262 THEORY OF DISEASE. 


again rises; that far more heat is removed by means 
of ice than if we were to surround the head with a 
bad conductor of heat. There has obviously been 
liberated in an equal time a far larger amount of 
heat than in the state of health; and this is only 
rendered possible by an increased supply of oxygen, 
which must have determined a more rapid change 
of matter. | 

The self-regulating steam-engines, in which, to 
produce a uniform motion, the human intellect has 
shewn the most admirable acuteness and sagacity, 
furnish no unapt image of what occurs in the animal 
body. 

Every one knows, that in the tube which conveys 
the steam to the cylinder where the piston-rod is 
to be raised, a stop-cock of peculiar construction 
is placed, through which all the steam must pass. 
By an arrangement connected with the regulating 
wheel, this stop-cock opens when the wheel moves 
slower, and closes more or less completely when 
the wheel moves faster than is required for a 
uniform motion. When it opens, more steam is 
admitted (more force), and the motion of the ma- 
chine is accelerated. When it shuts, the steam is 
more or less cut off, the force acting on the piston- 
rod diminishes, the tension of the steam increases, 
and this tension is accumulated for subsequent use. 
The tension of the vapour, or the force, so to speak, 
is produced by change of matter, by the combustion 
of coals in the fire-place. The force increases (the 


THEORY OF DISEASE. 263 


amount of steam generated and its tension increase) 
with the temperature in the fire-place, which de- 
pends on the supply of coals and of air. There are 
in these engines other arrangements, all intended 
for regulation. When the tension of steam in the 
boiler rises beyond a certain point, the passages for 
admission of air close themselves; the combustion 
is retarded, the supply of force (of steam) is dimin- 
ished. When the engine goes slower, more steam 
is admitted to the cylinder, its tension diminishes, 
the air passages are opened, and the cause of dis- 
engagement of heat (or production of force) in- 
creases. Another arrangement supplies the fire- 
place incessantly with coals in proportion as they 
are wanted. 

If we now lower the temperature at any part of 
the boiler, the tension within is diminished; this is 
immediately seen in the regulators of force, which 
act precisely as if we had removed from the boiler 
a certain quantity of steam (force). The regulator 
and the air passages open, and the machine supplies 
itself with more coals. 

The body, in regard to the production of heat and 
of force, acts just like one of these machines. With 
the lowering of the external temperature, the respi- 
rations become deeper and more frequent; oxygen 
is supplied in greater quantity and of greater den- 
sity ; the change of matter is increased, and more 
food must be supplied, if the temperature of the 
body is to remain unchanged. 


264 THEORY OF DISEASE. 


It is hardly necessary to mention, that in the 
body, the tension of vapour cannot, any more than 
an electrical current, be considered the cause of the 
production of force. 

From the theory of disease developed in the pre- 
ceding pages, it follows obviously, that a diseased 
condition once established, in any part of the body, 
cannot be made to disappear by the chemical action 
of a remedy. A limit may be put by a remedy to 
an abnormal process of transformation ; that process 
may be accelerated or retarded; but this alone does 
not restore the normal (healthy) condition. 

The art of the physician consists in the knowledge 
of the means which enable him to exercise an in- 
fluence on the duration of the disease; and in the 
removal of all disturbing causes, the action of which 
strengthens or increases that of the actual cause of 
disease. | 

It is only by a just application of its principles 
that any theory can produce really beneficial results. 
The very same method of cure may restore health 
in one individual, which, if applied to another, may 
prove fatal in its effects. Thus in certain inflamma- 
tory diseases, and in highly muscular subjects, the 
antiphlogistic treatment has a very high value; 
while in other cases blood-letting produces unfavour- 
able results. The vivifying agency of the blood 
must ever continue to be the most important condi- 
tion in the restoration of a disturbed equilibrium, 
which result is always dependant on the saving of 


THEORY OF RESPIRATION. 265 


time; and the blood must, therefore, be considered 
and constantly kept in view, as the ultimate and 
most powerful cause of a lasting vital resistance, as 
well in the diseased as in the unaffected parts of 
the body. 

It is obvious, moreover, that in all diseases where 
the formation of contagious matter and of exanthe- 
mata is accompanied by fever, two diseased condi- 
tions simultaneously exist, and two processes are 
simultaneously completed ; and that the blood, as 
it were by re-action (2. e. fever), becomes a means of 
eure, as being the carrier of that substance (oxygen) 
without the aid of which the diseased products can- 
not be rendered harmless, destroyed, or expelled 
from the body; a means of cure by which, in short, 
neutralization or equilibrium is effected. 


IV. 
THEORY OF RESPIRATION. 


During the passage of the venous blood through 
the lungs, the globules change their colour; and 
with this change of colour, oxygen is absorbed from 
the amosphere. Further, for every volume of oxy- 
gen absorbed, an equal volume of carbonic acid is, 
in most cases, given out. 

The red globules contain a compound of iron; 
and no other constituent of the body contains iron. 

Whatever change the other constituents of the 


266 THEORY OF RESPIRATION. 


blood undergo in the lungs, thus much is certain, 
that the globules of venous blood experience a 
change of colour, and that this change depends on 
the action of oxygen. 

Now we observe that the globules of arterial 
blood retain their colour in the larger vessels, and 
lose it only during their passage through the ca- 
pillaries. All those constituents of venous blood, 
which are capable of combining with oxygen, take 
up a corresponding quantity of it in the lungs. 
Experiments made with arterial serum have shewn, 
that when in contact with oxygen it does not dimin- 
ish the volume of that gas. Venous blood, in con- 
tact with oxygen, is reddened, while oxygen is ab- 
sorbed; and a corresponding quantity of carbonic 
acid is formed. 

It is evident that the change of colour in the 
venous globules depends on the combination of some 
one of their elements with oxygen; and that this 
absorption of oxygen is attended with the separation 
of a certain quantity of carbonic acid gas. 

This carbonic acid is not separated from the se- 
rum; for the serum does not possess the property, 
when in contact with oxygen, of giving off carbonic 
acid. On the contrary, when separated from the 
globules, it absorbs from half its volume to an equal 
volume of carbonic acid, and, at ordinary tempera- 
tures, is not saturated with that gas. (See the ar- 
ticle “ Blut” in the “ Handworterbuch der Chemie 
von Poggendorff, Wohler, and Liebig, p. 877.) 


THEORY OF RESPIRATION. 267 


Arterial blood, when drawn from the body, is 
soon altered; its florid colour becomes dark red. 
The florid blood, which owes its colour to the glo- 
bules, becomes dark by the action of carbonic acid, 
and this change of colour affects the globules, for 
florid blood absorbs a number of gases which do not 
dissolve in the fluid part of the blood when sepa- 
rated from the globules. Jt is evident, therefore, that 
the globules have the power of combining with gases. 

The globules of the blood change their colour in 
different gases ; and this change may be owing either 
to a combination or to a decomposition. 

Sulphuretted hydrogen turns them blackish green 
and finally black ; and the original red colour can- 
not, in this case, be restored by contact with oxygen. 
Here a decomposition has obviously taken place. 

The globules darkened by carbonic acid become 
again florid in oxygen, with disengagement of car- 
bonic acid. The same thing takes place in nitrous 
oxide. It is clear that they have here undergone 
no decomposition, and, consequently, they possess 
the power of combining with gases, while the com- 
pound they form with carbonie acid is destroyed by 
oxygen. When left to themselves, out of the body, 
the compound formed with oxygen again becomes 
dark, but does not recover its florid colour a second 
time by the action of oxygen. 

The globules of the blood contain a compound of 
iron. From the never-failing presence of iron in 
red blood, we must conclude, that it is unquestion- 


268 THEORY OF RESPIRATION. 


ably necessary to animal life; and, since physiology 
has proved, that the globules take no share in the 
process of nutrition, it cannot be doubted that they 
play a part in the process of respiration. 

The compound of iron in the globules has the 
characters of an oxidised compound; for it is de- 
composed by sulphuretted hydrogen, exactly in the 
same way as the oxides or other analogous com- 
pounds of iron. By means of diluted mineral acids, 
peroxide (sesquioxide) of iron may be extracted, at 
the ordinary temperature, from the fresh or dried 
red colouring matter of the blood. 

The characters of the compounds of iron may, 
perhaps, assist us to explain the share which that 
metal takes in the respiratory process. No other 
metal can be compared with iron, for the remark- 
able properties of its compounds. 

The compounds of protoxide of iron possess the 
property of depriving other oxidised compounds of 
oxygen; while the compounds of peroxide of iron, 
under other circumstances, give up oxygen with the 
utmost facility. 

Hydrated peroxide of iron, in contact with organic 
matters destitute of sulphur, is converted into car- 
bonate of the protoxide. 

Carbonate of protoxide of iron, in contact with 
water and oxygen, is decomposed; all the carbonic 
acid is given off, and, by absorption of oxygen, it 
passes into the hydrated peroxide, which may again 
be converted into a compound of the protoxide. 


THEORY OF RESPIRATION. 269 


Not only the oxides of iron, but also the cyanides 
of that metal, exhibit similar properties. Prussian 
blue contains iron in combination with all the or- 
ganic elements of the body; hydrogen and oxygen 
(water), carbon and nitrogen (cyanogen). 

When it is exposed to light, cyanogen is given 
off, and it becomes white; in the dark it attracts 
oxygen, and recovers its blue colour. 

All these observations, taken together, lead to the 
opinion that the globules of arterial blood contain 
a compound of iron saturated with oxygen, which, 
in the living blood, loses its oxygen during its pas- 
sage through the capillaries. The same thing occurs 
when it is separated from the body, and begins to 
undergo decomposition (to putrefy). The compound, 
rich in oxygen, passes, therefore, by the loss of oxy- 
gen (reduction), into one far less charged with that 
element. One of the products of oxidation formed 
in this process is carbonic acid. The compound of 
iron in the venous blood possesses the property of 
combining with carbonic acid; and it is obvious, 
that the globules of the arterial blood, after losing a 
part of their oxygen, will, if they meet with car- 
bonic acid, combine with that substance. 

When they reach the lungs, they will again take 
up the oxygen they have lost ; for every volume of 
oxygen absorbed, a corresponding volume of car- 
bonic acid will be separated; they will return to 
their former state; that is, they will again acquire 
the power of giving off oxygen. 


270 THEORY OF RESPIRATION. 


For every volume of oxygen which the globules 
can give off, there will be formed (as carbonic acid 
contains its own volume of oxygen, without conden- 
sation) neither more nor less than an equal volume 
of carbonic acid. For every volume of oxygen 
which the globules are capable of absorbing, no 
more carbonic acid can possibly be separated than 
that volume of oxygen can produce. 

When carbonate of protoxide of iron, by the 
absorption of oxygen, passes into the hydrated 
peroxide, there are given off, for every volume of 
oxygen necessary to the change from protoxide to 
peroxide, four volumes of carbonic acid gas. 

But from one volume of oxygen only one volume 
of carbonic acid can be produced ; and the absorption 
of one volume of oxygen can only cause, directly, 
the separation of an equal volume of carbonic acid. 
Consequently, the substance or compound which has 
lost its oxygen, during the passage of arterial into 
venous blood, must have been capable of absorbing or 
combining with carbonic acid ; and we find, in point 
of fact, that the living blood is never, in any state, 
saturated with carbonic acid; that it is capable of 
taking up an additional quantity, without any appa- 
rent disturbance of the function of the globules. 
Thus, for example, after drinking effervescing wines, 
beer, or mineral waters, more carbonic acid must 
necessarily be expired than at other times. In all 
cases, where the oxygen of the arterial globules has 
been partly expended, otherwise than in the forma- 


THEORY OF RESPIRATION. QF 


tion of carbonic acid, the amount of this latter gas 
expired will correspond exactly with that which has 
been formed; less, however, will be given out after 
the use of fat and of still wines, than after cham- 
pagne. 

According to the views now developed, the glo- 
bules of arterial blood, in their passage through the 
capillaries, yield oxygen to certain constituents of 
the body. <A small portion of this oxygen serves to 
produce the change of matter, and determines the 
separation of living parts and their conversion into 
lifeless compounds, as well as the formation of the 
secretions and excretions. The greater part, how- 
ever, of the oxygen is employed in converting into 
oxidised compounds the newly formed substances, 
which no longer form part of the living tissues. 

In their return towards the heart, the globules 
which have lost their oxygen combine with carbonic 
acid, producing venous blood ; and, when they reach 
the lungs, an exchange takes place between this 
carbonic acid and the oxygen of the atmosphere. 

The organic compound of iron, which exists in 
venous blood, recovers in the lungs the oxygen it 
has lost, and, in consequence of this absorption of 
oxygen, the carbonic acid in combination with it is 
separated. 

All the compounds present in venous blood, which 
have an attraction for oxygen, are converted, in the 
lungs, like the globules, into more highly oxidised 
compounds; a certain amount of carbonic acid is 


272 THEORY OF RESPIRATION. 


formed, of which a part always remains dissolved in 
the serum of the blood. 

The quantity of carbonic acid dissolved, or of that 
combined with soda, must be equal in venous and 
arterial blood, since both have the same tempera- 
ture; but arterial blood, when drawn, must, after a 
short time, contain a larger quantity of carbonic 
acid than venous blood, because the oxygen of the 
globules is expended in producing that compound. 

Hence, in the animal organism, two processes of 
oxidation are going on; one in the lungs, the other 
in the capillaries. By means of the former, in spite 
of the degree of cooling, and of the increased evapo- 
ration which takes place there, the constant tempe- 
rature of the lungs is kept up; while the heat of 
the rest of the body is supplied by the latter. 

A man, who expires daily 13:9 oz. of carbon, in 
the form of carbonie acid, consumes, in 24 hours, 
37 oz. of oxygen, which occupy a space equal to 
807 litres — 51,648 cubic inches (hessian). 

If we reckon 18 respirations to a minute, we 
have, in 24 hours, 25,920 respirations; and, conse- 
quently, in each respiration, there are taken into the 
blood 341548 — 1:99 cubic inch of oxygen. 

In one minute, therefore, there are added to the 
constituents of the blood 18 X 1:99 — 35:8 cubie 
inches of oxygen, which, at the ordinary tempera- 
ture, weigh rather less than 12 grains. 

If we now assume, that in one minute 10 lbs. of 
blood pass through the lungs (Miller, Physiologie, 


THEORY OF RESPIRATION. yA he 


vol. i. p. 845), and that this quantity of blood mea- 
sures 320 cubic inches, then 1 cubic inch of oxygen 
unites with 9 cubic inches of blood, very nearly. 

According to the researches of Dénis, Richardson, 
and Nasse (Handworterbuch der Physiologie, vol. 1. 
p- 138), 10,000 parts of blood contain 8 parts of per- 
oxide of iron. Consequently, 76,800 grains (10 Ibs. 
hessian) of blood contain 61:54 grains of peroxide 
of iron in arterial blood, — 55:14 of protoxide in 
venous blood. 

Let us now assume that the iron of the globules 
of venous blood is in the state of protoxide. It 
follows, that 55°14 grains of protoxide of iron, in 
passing through the lungs, take up, in one minute, 
6-40 grains of oxygen (the quantity necessary to 
convert it into peroxide). But since, in the same 
time, the 10 lbs. of blood have taken up 12 grains 
of oxygen, there remain 5°60 grains of oxygen, 
which combine with the other constituents of the 
blood. 

Now, 55:14 grains of protoxide of iron combine 
with 34°8 grains of carbonic acid, which occupy the 
volume of 73 cubic inches. It is obvious, therefore, 
that the amount of iron present in the blood, if in 
the state of protoxide, is sufficient to furnish the 
means of carrying or transporting twice as much 
carbonic acid as can possibly be formed by the 
oxygen absorbed in the lungs. 

The hypothesis just developed rests on well-known 
observations, and, indeed, explains completely the 

Ht 


274 THEORY OF RESPIRATION. 


process of respiration, as far as it depends on the 
globules of the blood. It does not exclude the 
opinion that carbonic acid may reach the lungs in 
other ways; that certain other constituents of the 
blood may give rise to the formation of carbonic 
acid in the lungs. But all this has no connection 
with that vital process by which the heat necessary 
for the support of life is generated in every part of 
the body. Now it is this alone which, for the pre- 
sent, can be considered as the object truly worthy 
of investigation. It is not, indeed, uninteresting to 
inquire, why dark blood becomes florid by the action 
of nitre, common salt, &c.; but this question has no 
relation to the natural respiratory process. 

The frightful effects of sulphuretted hydrogen, 
and of prussic acid, which, when inspired, put a stop 
to all the phenomena of motion in a few seconds, 
are explained in a natural manner by the well-known 
action of these compounds on those of iron, when 
alkalies are present ; and free alkali is never absent 
in the blood. 

Let us suppose that the globules lose their pro- 
perty of absorbing oxygen, and of afterwards giving 
up this oxygen and carrying off the resulting car- 
bonic acid; such a hypothetical state of disease 
must instantly become perceptible in the tempera- 
ture and other vital phenomena of the body. The 
change of matter will be arrested, while yet the vital 
motions will not be instantly stopped. 

The conductors of force, the nerves, will convey, 


THEORY OF RESPIRATION. 975 


as before, to the heart and intestines the power 
necessary for their functions. This power they will 
receive from the muscular system, while, as no 
change of matter takes place in the latter, the 
supply must soon fail. As no change of matter 
occurs, no lifeless compounds are separated, neither 
bile nor urine can be formed; and the temperature 
of the body must sink. 

This state of matters soon puts a stop to the 
process of nutrition, and, sconer or later, death must 
follow, but unaccompanied by febrile symptoms, 
which, in this case, is a very important fact. 

This example has been selected in order to shew 
the importance and probable advantage of an exa- 
mination of the blood in analogous diseased condi- 
tions. It cannot be, in the slightest degree, doubtful 
that the function ascribed to the blood globules 
may be considered as fully explained and cleared 
up, if, in such morbid conditions, we shall discover 
a change in their form, structure, or chemical cha- 
racters, a change which must be recognizable by the 
use of appropriate re-agents. 

If we consider the force which determines the 
vital phenomena as a property of certain substances, 
this view leads of itself to a new and more rigorous 
consideration of certain singular phenomena, which 
these very substances exhibit, in circumstances in 
which they no longer make a part of living or- 
ganisms. 


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A BREAN DalSX : 


CONTAINING 


THE ANALYTICAL EVIDENCE 


REFERRED TO IN THE SECTIONS IN WHICH ARE DESCRIBED 


CHEMICAL PROCESSES OF RESPIRATION, OF 
RUTREILON: 


AND OF THE 


METAMORPHOSIS OF TISSUES. 


*,* The Notes correspond with the numbers in parentheses in the teat. 
All the Analyses quoted, which have the mark * attached, have been 
made in the chemical laboratory of the University of Giessen. 


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AL EE aN 1 ox 


INTRODUCTION TO THE ANALYSES. 


Tue method formerly employed to exhibit the differ- 
ences in composition of different substances, that, namely, 
of giving the proportions of the various elements in 100 
parts, has been long abandoned by chemists ; because it 
affords no insight into the relations which exist between 
two or more compounds. In order to give some proofs 
of this statement, we shall here state, in that form, the 
composition of aldehyde and acetic acid, of oil of bitter 
almonds and benzoic acid. 


Acetic acid. Aldehyde. Benzoic acid. } +44 ee aie 
Carbon ...... 40°00 55°024 69°25 79°56 
Hydrogen ... 6°67 8°983 4°86 5°56 
Oxygen ...... 53°33 35°9938 25°89 14°88 


Now aldehyde is converted into acetic acid, and oil of 
bitter almonds into benzoic acid, simply by the addition 
of oxygen, without any change in regard to the other 
elements. This important relation cannot be traced in 
the mere numerical results of analysis as above given ; but 


280 APPENDIX. 


if the composition of the related compounds be expressed 
in formule, according to equivalents, the connection in 
each case becomes obvious, even to him who knows no 
more of chemistry than that C represents an equivalent 
or combining proportion of carbon, H an equivalent of 
hydrogen, and O an equivalent of oxygen. 


Formula Formula 
— ee EN LE SS=|_,_ = LE... eee 
of acetic acid. of aldehyde. of benzoic acid. of oil of bitter almonds. 
CHO.) CHO. CA1.0,. C,,H,0.. 


These formule are exact expressions of the results of 
analysis, which, in each of the two cases quoted, refer to 
a fixed quantity of carbon; in one to 4 equivalents, in the 
other to 14. They shew, that acetic acid differs from 
aldehyde, and benzoic acid from oil of bitter almonds, 
only in the proportion of oxygen. 

Nor is it more difficult to understand the signification 
of the following formule. 


Cyamelide. 1 eq. cyanuric acid. 3 eq. hydrated cyanic acid. 
C;N;H;0, —— Cy;(= C,N;)O; aa 3HO = 3(CyO + HO) — 
— C,N;H,;0, = C ;N;H,0,. 


(In these formule, N represents an equivalent of nitro- 
gen, and Cy an equivalent of cyanogen. This latter sub- 
stance being composed of 2 equivalents of carbon and | 
eq. of nitrogen, Cy = C,N.) 

The first formula (that of cyamelide) is what is called 
an empirical formula, in which the relative proportions of 
the elements are, indeed, exactly known, but where we 
have not even a theory, far less any actual knowledge, of 
the order in which they are arranged. The second for- 
mula is intended to express the opinion that 3 eq. of 
eyanogen (= 6 eq.of carbon + 3 eq. of nitrogen) having 


ANALYTICAL EVIDENCE. 281 


united to form a compound atom or molecule, have com- 
bined with 3 eq. of oxygen and 3 eq. of water, to form 
1 eq. of hydrated cyanuric acid. The third expresses the 
order in which the elements are supposed to be arranged 
in hydrated cyanic acid, the whole multiplied by 3. Each 
equivalent of cyanic acid is formed of 1 eq. of cyanogen, 
1 eq. of oxygen, and 1 eq. of water; and hence the same 
number of atoms of each element, which together formed 
1 eq. of cyanuric acid, is here so divided as to yield 3 eq. 
of cyanic acid. 

We have here, therefore, the same absolute and relative 
amount of atoms of each element, arranged in three diffe- 
rent ways; yet in each of these the proportions of the 
elements, calculated for 100 parts, must of course be the 
same. It is easy, therefore, to see the advantage we pos- 
sess by the use of formule; that, namely, of exhibiting 
the relations existing between compounds of different 
composition; and that also of expressing the actual, 
probable, or possible differences between substances 
whose composition, in 100 parts, is the same, while their 
properties, as in the case above quoted, are perfectly 
distinct. 

It does not come within our province here to explain 
the method or rule by which the composition of a sub- 
stance, in 100 parts (as it is always obtained in analysis), 
is expressed in a formula; we shall only describe the rule 
for calculating, from a given formula, the composition in 
100 parts. For this purpose it must be noted that C, in 
a chemical formula, signifies a weight of carbon expressed 
by the number 76°437 (according to the most recent 
determinations 75°8 or 75:0, a variation which has no 
effect whatever on the formule here adduced, all of 
which are calculated on the number 76°437); that H 
signifies a weight of hydrogen = 12°478; N a weight of 


282 APPENDIX. 


nitrogen = 177:04; and lastly O a weight of oxygen 
== 4100: 
The formula of proteine, C,,N;H,,O.,, expresses, there-. 
fore, 
48 times 76°437 = 3668°88 carbon, 
6 times 177.040 = 1062°24 nitrogen, 
36 times 12°478 = 449-26 hydrogen, 
14 times 100°000 = 1400-00 oxygen. 


The sum gives a weight of 6580°38 proteine. 
Therefore— 


In 100 parts. 
In 6580°38 parts of proteine are contained 3668°88 carbon 55°742 


In 6580-38 ditto 1062°24 nitrogen 16°143 
In 6580-38 ditto 449-26 hydrogen 6°827 
In 6580°38 ditto 1400-00 oxygen 21°288 

100-000 


The actual results of analysis, reduced to 100 parts, 
when compared with the above numbers, will shew how 
far the assumed formula is correct; or, supposing the for- 
mula ascertained, they will shew the degree of accuracy 
displayed by the experimenter. Thus the proportions in 
100 parts, calculated from the formula, furnish an impor- 
tant check to the operator, and, conversely, the formula 
calculated from his results, when compared with other 
known formule, supplies a test of his accuracy, or of the 
purity of the substance analyzed. 


ANALYTICAL EVIDENCE. 


NOTE (1), p. 12. 


CONSUMPTION OF 


An adult man 


—___————————- kx 

/ - 
consumes of oxygen _ produces of carbonie 
in 24 hours 


According to 


cubic in, 


Lavoisier and Seguin 46,037 
Menzies :.....cce0scccce 01,480 
BIG owe eons envce he 45,504 


grains, 


15,661 
17,625 
15,751 
13,464 


acid in 24 hours 
—____, 
cubic in. grains. 


14,930 8,584 


31,680 17,811 
39,600 18,612 


NOTE (2), p. 18. 
COMPOSITION OF DRY BLOOD (see note 28). 
In 100 parts. 


Carbon...... 51°96 
Hydrogen... 7°25 
Nitrogen .... 15°07 
Oxygen =. 21°30 
Ashes ...... 4°42 


100-00 


Grains. 


2672°7 hydrogen do. 


Sum 
Deduct oxygen present 
UEDIGO, $35. 0080¢os5000 


Remain ... 


eeee 


OXYGEN BY AN ADULT. 


Carbon contained 
carbonic acid. 
grains, 
2,820 French. 
English, 
4,853 do. 
5,148 do. 


In 4°8 lbs. Hessian = 36,864 grains. 
seeetobeces 19154°5 
Perslersicssleisiatd 2672°7 


36864:0 


Grains. 
19154°5 carbon form, with 50539°5 oxygen, carbonic acid. 
21415°8 dc. water. 


==/71955°3 do 


I 


7852°0 


64103°3 grains of oxygen, required 
for the complete combustion of 4°8 lbs. of dry blood. 


It is assumed, in this calculation, that 24 Ibs. of blood 


yield 4°8 Ibs. (20 per cent.) of dry residue. 


mainder, 80 per cent., is water. 


The re- 


284 APPENDIX. 


NOTE (3), p. 14. 


DETERMINATION OF THE AMOUNT OF CARBON 
EXPIRED. 


1. ANALYSIS OF 


Feces. 


2°356 dry feces left 0°320 ashes (13°58 per cent.) 
0°352 dry feces yielded 0°576 carbonic acid, and 0°218 water. 


Lentils. 


0°566 lentils, dried at 212°, yielded 0°910 carbonic acid, and 
0°366 water. 


Pease. 
1:060 pease, dried at 212°, left 0°037 ashes. 
0°416 do. do. yielded 0°642 carbonic acid, and 
0:241 water. 
Potatoes. 


0:443 dried potatoes yielded 0-704 carbonic acid, and 0°248 
water. 


Black Bread (Schwarzbrod). 


0°302 dried black bread yielded 0°496 carbonic acid, and 0°175 
water. 


0°24) do. 0 393 do. 0°142 
water. 


From the above, which are the direct results of experi- _ 
ment, the composition in 100 parts is calculated as in the 
following table. 


ANALYTICAL EVIDENCE. 


2. Composition 


285 


Of Feces. Of Black Bread. Of Potatoes. Of Flesh. 
Playfair. Boeckmann.* Boussingault. Boeekmann,* 
A E—=ESSSNN 
Carbon ... 45°24 45:09 45°41 44:1 43°944 (See note 
Hydrogen 6°88 6°54 6°45 5°8 6°222° 28.) 
Nitrogen) A tei Cae a Z 
Oxygen J / 212 44°89 45°1 44°919 
Ashes 13°15 S25 3°25 5:0 4°915 
100°00 100:00 100:00 100-0 100-000 
Water ... 300°00 
400-°00 
Of Pease. Of Lentils. Of Beans. 
Playfair.* Play fair.* Playfair.* 
(O02) sey eer 35°7438 37°38 38°24 
Hydrogen 7 .2...... 5*401 5°54 5°84 
Nitrogen 
SY with 39°366 37°98 38°10 
Oxygen J 
PRS WCSR SUIS fe cs taiats 3°490 3°20 a7 1 
WWraher et kt rs As 16°000 15°90 14°11 
100-000 | 100-00 100°00 
Fresh Meat. Potatoes. Black Bread. 
Boeckmann.* Boussingault. Boeckmann.* 
a ee ea 
WY aGGr.e. osck 3 wo 74:8 Too, 73°2 33 31°418 
Dry Matter a 252, 27°38) 2 2678 67: ..68°592 
100°0 100:0 100 100°000 


100 100-0 


3. CALCULATION, 


with the help of the preceding data, of the amount of 


carbon expired by an adult man. 


The following results 


are deduced from observations made (see table) on the 
average daily consumption of food, by from 27 to 30 


soldiers in barracks for a month, or by 855 men for one 


286 APPENDIX. 


day. The food, consisting of bread, potatoes, meat, 
lentils, pease, beans, &e., was weighed, with the utmost 
exactness, every day during a month (including even 
pepper, salt, and butter); and each article of food was 
separately subjected to ultimate analysis. The only ex- 
ceptions, among the men, to the uniform allowance of 
food, were three soldiers of the guard, who, in addi- 
tion to the daily allowance of 2 lbs. of bread, received, 
during each of the periods allotted for the pay of the 
troops, 24 lbs. extra; and one drummer, who, in the 
same period, left 23 lbs. unconsumed. According to an 
approximative report by the sergeant-major, each soldier 
consumes daily, on an average, out of barracks, 3 oz. 
of sausage, ?0z. of butter, 3 pint of beer, and +5 pint of 
brandy; the carbon of which articles amounts to more 
than double that of the feeces and urine taken together. 
In the soldier, the faeces amount daily, on an average, to 
530z.; they contain 75 per cent. of water, and the dry 
residue contams 45°24 per cent. of carbon, and 13°15 per 
cent. of ashes. 100 parts of fresh feces consequently 
contain 11°31 per cent. of carbon, very nearly the same 
proportion as in fresh meat. In the calculation, the car- 
bon of the feeces and of the urine has been assumed as equal 
to that of the green vegetables, and of the food (sausages, 
butter, beer, &c.) consumed in the alehouse. 

From the observations, as recorded in the table, the 
following conclusions are deduced. 

Flesh.— Meat devoid of fat, if reckoned at 74 per cent. 
water, and 26 per cent. dry matter, contains in 100 parts 
very nearly 13°6 parts of carbon. Ordinary meat con- 
tains both fat and cellular tissue, which together amount 
to 1th of the weight of the meat as bought from the but- 
cher. The number of ounces consumed (by 855 men) was 
4,448, consisting, therefore, of 


ANALYTICAL EVIDENCE. 287 


3812°5 oz. of flesh, free from fat, containing of carbon 518°5 oz. 


635°5 oz. of fat and cellular tissue, ditto 449:0 oz. 
4448:0 oz. In all, carbon 967°5 oz. 


With the bones, the meat, as purchased, contains 29 
per cent. of fixed matter, including bones; 4,4480z. of 
flesh therefore contain 448 0z. of dry bones. These have 
not been included in the calculation, although, when 
boiled, they yield from 8 to 10 per cent. of gelatine, which 
is taken as food in the soup. 

Fat.—The amount of fat consumed was 560z.; which, 
the carbon being calculated at 80 per cent., contain in all 
44°8 oz. of carbon. 

Lentils, pease, and beans.—There were consumed 53:5 
oz. of lentils, 185°50z. of pease, and 2180z. of beans. 
Assuming the average amount of carbon in these vege- 
tables to be 37 per cent., the total quantity of carbon 
consumed in this form was 169°1 oz. 

Potatoes.—100 parts of fresh potatoes contain 12-2 
parts of carbon. In the 15,876 oz. of potatoes consumed, 
therefore, the amount of carbon was 1936°850z. 

Bread.—855 men eat daily 855 times 32 0z., besides 
36lbs. of bread in the soup, which in all amounts to 
27,936 oz. 100 oz. of fresh bread contain, on an average, 
30°15 oz. of carbon ; consequently, the carbon consumed 
in the bread amounts to 8771°5 oz. 

The total consumption, therefore, was, 


ENGINED ber acta atc. yet anes scans 967°50 oz, of carbon. 

BT Che fab cop sass Famisamseciedenss dlsaes 44°80 ditto 

In the lentils, pease, and beans ... 169°10 ditto 

Rete WOCALOES. oe c.dcciirccnsseses ns 1936°85 ditto 

eg CHE DECHS ct 5 scsec docincs oaetees ve 8771°50 ‘ditto 
Consumed by 855 men ...... 11889°75 ditto 


Consumed by 1 man ........ss0000 13-9 ditto 


288 APPENDIX. 


The feces of a soldier weigh 5°5 oz., and contain, in the 
fresh state, 11 per cent. of carbon. For 86 kreutzer (about 
2s. 5d. sterling) there may be bought, on an average, 
172 lbs. of vegetables, such as cabbages, greens, turnips, 
&c.: 25 maas of sour krout weigh 100 lbs. ; and for 483 
kreutzer (1s. 5d. sterling) there are bought, on an average, 
241 lbs. of onions, leeks, celery, &c.* 855 men consumed 


Of green ‘vegetables. ...........<00- 2,802 oz. 
Of sour krout 3.27 sessacd2- Ge. eee 1,600 
OE ONIONS = Oss oasis beck cones te 388 
aaa 22, seo sees eee 4,790 
AG: ONE TAB. bo ccise vcs cis.0nwee see 5°6 oz 


For this reason, the carbon of the last-mentioned ar- 
ticles of food has been assumed as equal to that of the 
feeces and urine. Sausages, brandy, beer, in short, the 
small quantity of food taken irregularly in the alehouse, 
has not been included in the calculation. | 

The daily allowance of bread, being uniformly 2 lbs. per 
man, with the exceptions formerly mentioned, has not 
been inserted in the table, which includes only those 
matters of which, from the daily allowance being variable, 
an average was required. The small quantity of bread in 
the table is that given in the soup, which is over and 
above the daily supply. 


* In the original table, the quantities of these vegetables are entered ac- 
cording to their value in kreutzers, but they are here calculated by weight 
from the above data, as this appeared better adapted for comparison in this 
country than the prices would have been.—Ep. 


“AOL, Sueld ¢.Lep = St SFOUNPULOAR *2Z0 [ ATTY 
*(suread ORF = st Aor *20 1) AOL, suIvIS ZHP = URISSOF] “ZO [ puv SZTOL.[ : [se 10 *ZIZZ > OOOL 2: WeISsaFT q{ LT + Slodnpapoar ‘q] T ‘Kory, suread (00L = St stodnpayoar *q] [ ey} a0uIs 
‘Aquanbasuog *slodnpsloae suiers JIL, = et ad surerd (0R9L = UvISSOT] ‘20 OT = URISSAF] “Q[ [ JY} SpauorjudUT oq o190y, Avur qt ‘yy s10OM stodnpaoae 0} s}ysiom aSaY} OONPAt OF YSIM 
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pey ueu 

‘ er ocs |. I e ge . gs e g¢ e cs e ¢ * 0 . CCB er, e C6 e A cogs . eee . 
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ISRIIAV UL, 


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(E PION 0) "T ATAVAL 


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290 


TABLE IT.—Note (4), p. 14.4 


APPENDIX. 


FOOD CONSUMED BY A HORSE IN TWENTY-FOUR HOURS. 


Weight | Weight | Salts 
Articles of | in the | in the Hydro- | Nitro- | and 
food. fresh dry aes gen. | Cae gen. | earthy 
state. state | matters. 
13 | aa eee 7500! 6465 | 2961-0) 323°2/2502-0| 97-0 | 581°8 
Wats” ices: 2270) 1927 977°0| 123°3| 707:°2| 42:4 Tel 
Water...... 16000 ks 25: 
Total ...| 25770) 8392 |3938-0| 446°5 | 3209-2/ 139-4 | 672°2 
EXCRETIONS OF A HORSE IN TWENTY-FOUR HOURS. 
Weight | Weight Salts 
. in the | in the Hydro- Nitro- and 
eos. fresh dry aia ee Ones gen. earthy 
state. state. matters. 
Urine :....3- 1330} 302 LOS:7| 11°5 384°]1} 37°8| 109°9 
Excrements| 14250} 3525 |13864°4) 179°8|1328°9| 77°6| 574°6 
Total ...| 15580, 3827 |1472-9| 191-3|1363-0| 115-4| 6845 
Total from 
the previous| 95779 8392 |3938-0| 446-5 | 3209-2] 139-4] 672-2 
part of this 
Table. 
Difference | 10190) 4565 24651 255°2|1846°2| 24:0 k2's 
Aimee eee (geil bed ee ae 


a Boussingault, Ann. de Ch. et de Phys., LXX., 136. 
table are given in grammes. 


The weights in this 
1 gramme = 15°44 grains Troy, very nearly. 


ANALYTICAL EVIDENCE. 


291 


TABLE I1.—Note (4), p. 14 (concluded). 


FOOD CONSUMED BY A COW IN TWENTY-FOUR HOURS. 


| Weight Lt Salts 
Articles of | in the | Weight Carbon.| Hydro- | gx gen |Nitro-| and 
food. fresh im the ‘| gen. y ‘| gen. | earthy 
state, | dry state. matters. 
Potatoes ...| 15000} 4170 | 1839-0) 241-9|1830°6 50:0) 208°5 
After Grass| 7500) 6315 | 2974°4 353-6 | 2204:0 151°5| 631°5 
Water.,.... 60000 50°0 
Total ...| 82500; 10485 | 4813°4 595°5 40346 201°5 889-0 
EXCRETIONS OF A COW IN TWENTY-FOUR HOURS. 
Weight =f > Salts 
Excretions, | i the ‘3 en Carbon. | Hydro- fae Nitro-| _ and 
fees [ot Se gen. gen. | earthy 
state. | dry state. | matters. 
pet Ne SS eee ia 
Excrements) 28413} 4000°0 1712-0) 208-0 | 1508-0 92°0 480°0 
Prime te. 8200| 960°8| 261-4) 25:0} 253-7) 36:5 384-2 
Malle ¥.4 22: 8539] 1150°6| 628-2} 99-0) 321:0| 46:0 56-4 
Total ...) 45152} 6111-4 2601-6) 332-0|2082°7|174:5 920°6 
Total of | | 
first part of | 82500) 10485-0, 4813-4) 595-5 4034-6 201-5 889-0 
this Table. | 
Ber bas 
| . 
Difference | 37348] 4374-6 2211°8) 263-5/1951:9| 27-0 sal 
Sia ene aeeet Perea Or 
+ or — = = ie | a Ste AB a aes | 


7.2 


292 


APPENDIX. 


NOTE (5), p. 19. 


TEMPERATURE OF THE BLOOD AND FREQUENCY OF 


THE PULSE. 


According to Prevost and Dumas, 


The mean The frequency 
eee pers of the pulse _ of the respiration 
in the minute. in the minute. 
In the Picecon' “.....: 107°6° 136 34 
Common Fow] ...... 106°7° 140 30 
Duck wie ra 108°5° 170 21 
RAVEN | yes acisniotie dente 108*5° 110 21 
ISAK cho sccroseeenars 7 2? 200 29 
Simia Callitriche .... 95°9° 90 30 
Gumeadio . 52. --... 100°4° 140 36 
| Dcrcs es Se ene one 99°3° 90 28 
ab cane Soe donee 101°3° 100 24 
Goatwer css secdees ses 102-52 84 24 
RANG ee eee see 100°4° 120 36 
PQS C I caeece decease’ 98°2° 56 16 
WTAW a ivscbRavcc- 0d s 98°6° 72 18 
Man (Liebig) ...... A ka a 65 17 
Woman (Liebig) .... 98°2° 60 15 


The temperature of a child is 102°2°. 
The temperature of the human body, in the mouth or 
in the rectum, for example, is from 97°7° to 98°6°. That 
of the blood (Majendie) is from 100°6° to 101:6°. As a 
mean temperature, 99°5° has been adopted in this work, 
page 19. 


ANALYTICAL EVIDENCE. 293 


NOTE (6), p. 36. 


The prisoners in the house of arrest at Giessen receive 
daily 13 Ib. of bread (24 0z.), which contain 73 oz. of 
carbon. They receive, besides, 1 lb. of soup daily, and 
on each alternate day, | lb. of potatoes. 


14 lb. of bread contains ......... 7°25 oz. of carbon. 
1 Jb. of soup contains ............ 0°75 ditto 
3 lb. of potatoes contains......... 1:00 ditto 
GRAD 2 dee aie deg es ote eens 9°00 dittot 


NOTE (7), p. 43. 


COMPOSITION OF THE FIBRINE AND ALBUMEN OF 


BLOOD. a 

Albumen from Serum of Blood. Fibrine. 
Scherer.* Scherer.* Mulder. 

IEE ao Ean 

i 10 F, III. I, TE III. 

(Carbon.:,,...<c-.. 0o°S00 55°461 56°097 53°671 54°454 54°56 
Hydrogen..... gene 6°983 7201 6°880 6°878 7°069 6°90 
Nitrogen ..... sewn) 15673 15°673 15°681 15°763 15°762 15°72 


Suphten 23°494 21°655 22°342 23°688  22°715 22°82 
Phosphorus .,. 


a Annalen der Chem. und Pharm., XXVIII., 74, and XL., 33, 36. 


For additional analyses of animal fibrine and albumen, 


see Note (27), which also contains analyses of the various 
animal tissues. 


}~ At page 36 the carbon contained in the daily food of these prisoners is cal- 
culated at 8} oz., and the appendix in the original makes the number also 85, 
apparently by an error in adding up the above numbers, which yield the sum 
of 9 oz. Possibly there may be an error in excess in the proportion of carbon 
calculated for the soup, which, in that case, ought to be 0°25 oz.—EpiTor. 


*) 


94 APPENDIX. 


NOTE (8), p. 48. 


COMPOSITION OF 
ALBUMEN, VEGETABLE CASEIN 
GLUTEN. 


VEGETABLE FIBRINE. 


VEGETABLE FIBRINE, VEGETABLE 


E,; AND VEGETABLE 


GLUTEN, 


As obtained from 
wheat flour. 


Scherer.* @ Jones.*b Marcet.ec Boussingault. 
[EL 
if Il. Ifl. IV. uh 186 
Carbon..... wee 00°064 54°603 54°617 -53°83 oF jaro 
Hydrogen...... (A326 7-302 257-491 7°02 14: 15-0 
Nitrogen ...... 15°359 +=15°809 15°809 15°58 7°8 70 
Oxygen 
Sulphur \ 24°445 -°22°285. *22:083 5 23°06 22:0 24°5 
Phosphorus 
a Ann. der Chem., und Pharm., XL., 7. 
b Ibid., XL., 65. 
e L. Gmelin’s Theor. Chemie, II., 1092. 
VEGETABLE ALBUMEN, @ 
From Rye. From Wheat. From Gluten. From Almonds. 
Jones.* Jones.*  Varrentrapp & Will.* Jones. * 
CarbOu as sess 54°74 55°01 54°85 57°03 
Eiydrocen:...... are | 7°23 6°98 7°53 
INIETORIEN, scr. 5°SD i392 15°88 13°48 
Oxygen | 
Sulphur if 21°64 21°84 22°39 21°96 
Phosphorus 
Boussingault. Varrentrapp and Will.* 
Carbon ov: sssaeasroesto-« SPDT 
Hydrogen ....22..%235< 6°9 — 
INTEKOGCI cueess ete car's 18°4 15°70 
OXY GOR OC ka ecicntias 220) ——— 


a Ann, der 


‘hem. und Pharm., XL., 66, and XXXIX., 291. 


ANALYTICAL EVIDENCE. 295 


VEGETABLE CASEINE, a 
Sulphate of Caseine 


and Potash. 
Schezer.* Jones, * Varrentrapp and Will. 
WALDO sees esse 54°138 a0;0a 51°41 51°24 
Hydrogen ...... 7°156 7°59 7°83 6°77 
INTEROSEM...21.000. 15°672 15°89 14°48 13°23 
Oxygen, &c. .... 23°034 As47 —. 


a Ann. der Chem. und Pharm., XXXIX., 291, and XL., 8 and 67. 


VEGETABLE GLUTEN. 


Jones, * a Boussingault. 
in eee aa AS 
Carbone sawctes. cc: 55°22 54°2 52°3 
Iiydrogen\......< 23. 7°42 75 6°5 
Nitrogen’) 3 ws. Lo 98 13°9 18°9 
Oxycen Xe... 5.0 21°38 24°4 22°3 


a Ann. der Chem. und Pharm., XL., 66. 


The pure gluten, analyzed by Jones, was that portion 
of the raw gluten from wheat flour which is soluble in hot 
alcohol. The insoluble portion is vegetable fibrine, the 
analysis of which has been already given. 


NOTE @);, p58. 


COMPOSITION OF ANIMAL CASEINE. a 


Scherer. 
From fresh From sour From milk by Albuminous sub- 
milk. milk. acetic acid. stance in milk. 
L. fairer.) 22 Tian IV. v. 
Carbon: . .4:: 54°825 54°721 54°665 54°580 54°507 


Hydrogen 7°153 239 7°46 7°352 6°913 
Nuttozen ... 15626" 15°724" 115°724 . -15°696 15°670 
Oxygen 

yee \... 22°394 22°316 29146 22'372~—-22-910 
Sulphur J 

a Ann. der Chem. und Pharm., XL., 40 et seq. 

b This substance, called, in German, zieger, is contained in the whey of 
milk after coagulation by an acid. It is coagulated by heat, and very much 
resembles albumen, 


296 APPENDIX. 


: Mulder. « 
Warnonce ss crec ser ees 54°96 
Hydrogene.ts<.c..%606 7°15 
INIEKOPEN sce 005 seis 15°80 
ONG Sen ae sans ccana nes 21°73 
Sulphur 2 iew.e: sessees 0°36 


a For the analysis of vegetable caseine, see the preceding note. 


NOTE (10), p. 64. 


AMOUNT OF MATTER SOLUBLE IN ALCOHOL IN THE 
SOLID EXCREMENTS OF THE HORSE AND COW. 


(WILL.*) 


18-3 grammes of dried horse-dung lost, by the action 
of alcohol, 0°995 gramme. The residue, when dry, had 
the appearance of saw-dust, after it has been deprived, 


by boiling, of all soluble matter. 
14:98 grammes of dry cow-dung lost, by the same 


treatment, 0°625 gramme. 


NOTE (11), p. 70. 


COMPOSITION OF STARCH. a 


Strecker.* 
—_—_ _-  S——————_, 
Calculated From From From From 
C12 H10 O10. Peas. Lentils. Beans. Buckwheat. 
Carbon... 72. 44°91 44°33 44°46 44°16 44°23 
Hydrogen... 6°11 6°57 6°54 6°69 6°40 


Oxygen ... 48°98 49°09 49°00 49°15 49°37 


ANALYTICAL EVIDENCE. 297 


Strecker.* 
(i eg EE eee 
From maize. From horse-chesnuts. From wheat. From rye. 
Garbon)...... 44°27 44°44 44.26 44°16 
Hydrogen... 6°67 6°47 6°70 6°64 
Oxygen ... 49°06 49:08 49°04 49.20 
Strecker.* 
From rice. dahlintrodts. atifipe aonles wine eee 
@arbom ..:... 44°69 44°13 44°10 44°14 
Hydrogen... 6°36 6°56 6°57 6°75 
Oxygen... 48°95 49°31 49.33 49°11 
From potatoes. From arrow-root. From yams.a 
ES ee 
Berzelius. Gay Lussac & Thenard. _‘ Prout, Ortigosa.* 
Carbon... 44°250 43°55 44°40 44°2 
Hydrogen 6°674 6°77 6°18 6°5 
Oxygen... 49°076 49°68 49°42 49.3 


a The starch employed for the analyses, made by Strecker and Ortigosa, 
was prepared from the chemical laboratory at Giessen, from the respective 


seeds, bulbs, and fruits. 


NOTE (12), p. 71. 


COMPOSITION OF GRAPE SUGAR. (STARCH SUGAR.) 


From grapes.@ From starch.6 From honey.c Calculated. 


De Saussure. Prout. Ci2 H14014 

a A 
Carbon. ... 36°71 37°29 36°36 36°80 
Hydrogen 6°78 6°84 7:09 7°01 
Oxygen... 56°51 Sanad 56°55 56°19 


a Ann. de Chimie, XI., 381. 
6 Ann. of Philosophy, VI., 426. 
e Philosoph. Trans. 1827, 373. 


298 


APPENDIX. 


NOTE (13), p. 72. 


COMPOSITION OF SUGAR OF MILK. 


Gay Lussac Calculated. 
and Thenard. Prout. Brunn. Berzelius. Liebig.* C12 H12 Oi2. 
Carbon 38°825 40-00 40°437 39°474 40°00 40°46 
Hydrogen 7°341 6°66 6711 7°167 6°73 6°61 
Oxygen ... 53°834 53°34 52°892 53,359 53°27 52°93 
NOTE (14), p. 72. 
COMPOSITION OF GUM. 
Gay Lussac Calculated. 
and Thenard, Goebel. Berzelius. Ciz Hi On. 
(arbon 6.525. 42°23 42°2 42°682 42°58 
Hydrogen ...... 6°93 6-6" 6°374 6°37 
Oxyeen~. 5.5... 50°84 51°2 50°944 51°05 
NOTE (15), p. 74. 
ANALYSIS OF OATS (Boussingault). a 
100 parts of oats contain of dry matter ......... 84:9 
Ditto Water “S.ccnscrsceouss i 
100°0 


100 parts of oats dried at 212° = 117°7 parts dried at 


the ordinary temperature, contain 


Orey Reso san eden nooo 
INTETOS ED. o's cc cies davis sau 
WASHES ann cnet ce bie anise 


Water-9. 5. sees 


Oats dried in the air ... 


117-7 contain, in 100 parts, 


1°867 of nitrogen. 


a Ann. de Chimie et de Phys., LXXI., 130. 


ANALYTICAL EVIDENCE. 299 


ANALYSIS OF Hay. 


100 parts of hay dried in the air contain 86 of dry matter, 


14 of water. 


100 
100 parts of hay dried at 212° = 116-2 parts dried in 


air, contain 


Caxhow scsio sco eseate 45°8 
Flydropems . 2) ses 25a 5: a0 
OXY Rei es actus nose ded 5 HOLL 
Witrecen's f...22 2o.2: 15 
ASHES, cwucainacenees dao 9-0 

100-:0 


16.2 water, 


116-2 hay dried in the air. 


100°0 of hay dried at the ordinary temperature contain 1°29 
of nitrogen. 
240 oz. of such hay = 15 lbs. contain ... 3°095 oz. of nitrogen. 
72 oz. of oats = 43 lbs. contain ... 1°34 ditto 


| 


*Fotale. 2:72. 4°435 ditto 


NOTE (16) fa; p77: 
AMOUNT OF CARBON IN FLESH AND IN STARCH. 


100 parts of starch contain 44 of carbon; therefore, 64 
oz. (4 lbs.) contain 28°16 oz. of carbon. 

100 parts of fresh meat contain 13°6 of carbon (see 
Note III.);, hence 240 oz. (15 Ibs.) contain 32°64 oz. of 


. ” + 
carbon.t 


t By anerror in calculation in the original, the amount of carbon in 15 lbs. of 
meat is stated to be 27°640z. It follows, that the carbon of 4 lbs. of starch is 
not equal, as stated in the text, to that of 15 lbs, of flesh, but to that of 13 lbs, 
This difference, however, is not sufficient to affect the argument at p. 84.— 
Epiror. 


300 APPENDIX. 


NOTE (16), b, p. 84. 
COMPOSITION OF 


Hog’s Lard. Mutton fat. Human Fat. 


Chevreul. a 


[> —_—-_- -——— =: "1!" 
Carbotl........2:<- 79098 78°996 79.000 
Hydrogen ...... 117146 11°700 11°416 
O56 705) las ye Gapnogs 9°756 9°304 9°584 


a Recherches Chim., sur les corps gras. Paris. 1823. 


NOTE (17), p. 84. 
COMPOSITION OF CANE SUGAR. 


According to 
Berzelius. Prout. W.Crum. Liebig.* a a ee & sm ae 


Carbon ...... 42°225 42°86 42°14 42°301 42°47 42°58 
Hydrogen... 6°600 6°35 642 6:384 6:90 6°37 
Oxygen ... 51175 50°79 51°44 51°315 50°63 51°05 


For the composition of gum and of starch, see Notes 


(14) and (11). 


NOTE (18), p. 85. 


COMPOSITION OF CHOLESTERINE. 


According to 
Chevreul. a Couerbe. 6 Marchand. Calculated, 
C36 H32 O. 
Carbon ... 85°095 84°895 84°90 84:°641 
Hydrogen 11°880 12-099 12°00 12°282 
Oxygen ... 3°025 3°006 3°10 3°077 


a Recherches sur les corps gras, p. 185. 
6 Ann. de Ch. et de Phys. LVI., p, 164. 


ANALYTICAL EVIDENCE. 301 


NOTE (19), p. 87. 


THE PRODUCTION OF WAX FROM SUGAR. a 


As soon as the bees have filled their stomach, or what 
is called the honey bladder, with honey, and cannot de- 
posit it for want of cells, the honey passes gradually in 
large quantity into the intestinal canal, where it is 
digested. The greater part is expelled as excrement; the 
rest enters the fluids of the bee. In consequence of this 
great flow of juices a fatty substance is produced, which 
oozes out on the eight spots formerly mentioned, which 
occur on the four lower scales of the abdominal rings, 
and soon hardens into lamine of wax. On the other 
hand, when the bees can deposit their honey, only so 
much enters the intestinal canal as is necessary for their 
support. The honey bladder need not be filled with 
honey longer than forty hours in order to bring to matu- 
rity, on the eight spots, eight lamine of wax, so that the 
latter fall off. I made the experiment of giving to bees, 
which I had enclosed in a box with their queen about the 
end of September, dissolved sugar-candy instead of honey. 
Out of this food lamine of wax were formed; but these 
would not separate and fall off readily, so that the mass, 
which continued to ooze out, remained, in most of the 
bees, hanging to the upper lamina; and the lamine of 
wax became as thick as four under ordinary circum- 
stances. The abdominal scales of the bees were, by 
means of the wax, distinctly raised, so that the waxen 
lamine projected between them. On examination, | 


a From F. W. Gundlach’s Natural History of Bees, p. 115. Cassel, 1842. 
We are acquainted with no more beautiful or convincing proof of the form- 
ation of fatty matter from sugar than the following process of the manu- 
facture of wax by the bee as taken from observation. 


302 APPENDIX. 


found that these thick lamine, which under the micro- 
scope exhibited several lamellae, had a sloping surface 
downwards near the head, and upwards in the vicinity of 
the tail. The first waxen lamina, therefore, must have 
been pushed downwards by the second, because, where 
the abdominal scales are attached to the skin, there is no 
space for two lamine, the second by the third, and thus 
the inclined surfaces on the sides of the thick lamine had 
been produced. I saw distinctly from this, that the first- 
formed laminz are detached by those which follow. The 
sugar had been converted into wax by the bees, but it 
would seem that there was some imperfection in the pro- 
cess, as the lamine did not fall off, but adhered to the 
succeeding ones. 

In order to produce wax in the manner described, the 
bees require no pollen, but only honey. I have placed, 
even in October, bees in an empty hive, and fed them 
with honey ; they soon formed comb, although the wea- 
ther was such that they could not leave the hive. I can- 
not, therefore, believe that pollen furnishes food for the 
bees, but+I think they only swallow it in order, by mixing 
it with honey and water, to prepare the liquid food for the 
crubs. Besides, bees often starve in April, when their 
stock of honey is consumed, and when they can obtain in 
the fields abundance of pollen, but no honey. When 
pressed by hunger they tear the nymphe out of the cells, 
and gnaw them in order to support life by the sweet 
juice which they contain. But, if in this condition they are 
not artificially fed, or if the fields do not soon yield their 
proper food, they die in the course of a few days. Now, 
if the pollen were really nourishment for bees, they ought 
to be able to support life on it, mixed with water. 

Bees never build honeycomb unless they have a queen, 
or are provided with young out of which they can educate 


ANALYTICAL EVIDENCE. 3038 


a queen. But if bees be shut up in a hive without a 
queen, and fed with honey, we can perceive in forty-eight 
hours that they have lamine of wax on their scales, and 
that some have even separated. The building of cells is 
therefore voluntary, and dependant on certain conditions, 
but the oozing out of wax is involuntary. 

One might suppose that a large proportion of these 
lamine must be lost, since the bees may allow them to 
fall off, out of the hive as well as in it; but the Creator 
has wisely provided against such a loss. If we give 
to bees engaged in building cells honey in a flat dish, and 
cover the dish with perforated paper, that the bees may 
not be entangled in the honey, we shall find, after a day, 
that the honey has disappeared, and that a large number 
of lamine are lying on the paper. It would appear as if 
the bees, which have carried off the honey, had let fall 
the scales; but it is not so. For, if above the paper we 
lay two small rods, and on these a board, overhanging 
the dish on every side, so that the bees can creep under 
the board and obtain the honey, we shall find next day 
the honey gone, but no lamine on the paper; while 
laminze will be found in abundance on the board above. 
The bees, therefore, which go for and bring the honey, do 
not let fall the lamine of wax, but only those bees which 
remain hanging to the top of the hive. Repeated experi- 
ments of this kind have convinced me that the bees, as 
soon as their lamine of wax are mature, return to the 
hive and remain at rest, just as caterpillars do, when 
about to change. In a swarm that is actively employed 
in building we may see thousands of bees hanging idly at 
the top of the hive. These are all bees whose lamine of 
wax are about to separate. When they have fallen off, 
the activity of the bee revives, and its place is occupied 
for the same purpose by another. 


304 APPENDIX. 


(From page 28 of the same work.) In order to 
ascertain how much honey bees require to form wax, and 
how often, in a swarm engaged in building, the lamine 
attain maturity and fall off, I made the following experi- 
ment, which appears to me not uninteresting. 

On the 29th of August, of this year (1841), at a time 
when the bees could obtain in this district no farther 
supply of honey from the fields, I emptied a small hive, 
placed the bees in a small wooden hive, having first 
selected the queen bee, and shut her up in a box, furnished 
with wires, which I placed in the only door of the hive, 
so that no embryos could enter the cells. I then placed 
the hive in a window, that I might be able to watch it. 

At 6 p.m. I gave the bees 60z. of honey run from the 
closed cells, which had thus the exact consistence of 
freshly made honey. This had disappeared next morning. 
In the evening of the 30th I gave the bees 60z. more, 
which, in like manner, was removed by the next morning ; 
but already some lamin of wax were seen lying on the 
paper with which the honey was covered. On the 3lst 
August and the Ist September the bees had in the 
evening 10oz., and on the 3rd of September in the evening 
70z.; in all, therefore, 1lb. 130z. of honey, which had 
run cold out of cells which the bees had already closed. 
On the 5th of September I stupified the bees, by means 
of puff-ball, and counted them. Their number was 2,765, 
and they weighed 100z. I next weighed the hive, the 
combs of which were well filled with honey, but the cells not 
yet closed ; noted the weight, and then allowed the honey 
to be carried off by a strong swarm of bees. This was 
completely effected in a few hours. I now weighed it a 
second time, and found it 12o0z. lighter; consequently the 
bees still had in the hive 12o0z. of the 290z. of honey 
given to them. I next extracted the combs, and found 


ANALYTICAL EVIDENCE. 305 


that their weight was 2 of an ounce. I then placed’ the 
bees in another box, provided with empty combs, and fed 
them with the same honey as before. In the first few 
days they lost daily rather more than loz. in weight, and 
afterwards half an ounce daily, which was owing to the 
circumstance, that from the digestion of so much honey, 
their intestinal canal was loaded with excrements ; for 
1,170 bees, in autumn, when they have been but a short 
time confined to the hive, weigh 4 0z.; consequently 2,765 
bees should weigh 9o0z. But they actually weighed 100z., 
and therefore had within them | oz. of excrement, for 
their honey bladders were empty. During the night the 
weight of the box did not diminish at all, because the small 
quantity of honey the bees had deposited in the cells, 
having already the proper consistence, could not lose 
weight by evaporation, and because the bees could not 
then get rid of their excrements. For this reason, the loss 
of weight occurred always during the day. 

If, then, the bees, in seven days, required 33 oz. of 
honey to support and nourish their bodies, they must 
have consumed 133 0z. of honey in forming ? of an ounce 
of wax; and consequently, to form 1 lb. of wax, 20Ibs. of 
honey are required. This is the reason why the strongest 
swarms in the best honey seasons, when other hives, that 
have no occasion to build, often gain in one day 3 or 4lbs. 
in weight, hardly become heavier, although their activity 
is boundless. All that they gain is expended in making 
wax. ‘This is a hint for those who keep bees, to limit the 
building of comb. Cnauf has already recommended this, 
although he was not acquainted with the true relations of 
the subject. From loz. of wax, bees can build cells 
enough to contain 1 lb. of honey. 

100 lamine of wax weigh 0-024 gramme (rather more 
than 3 of a grain), consequently, 1 kilogramme (= 15,360 

x 


306 APPENDIX. 


grains) will contain 4,166,666 lamine. Hence, § of an 
ounce will contain 81,367 lamine. Now this quantity 
was produced by 2,765 bees in six days; so that the bee 
requires for the formation of its 8 lamine (one crop) 
about thirty-eight hours, which agrees very well with my 
observations. 

The lamine, when formed, are as white as bleached 
wax. The cells also, at first, are quite white, but they are 
coloured yellow by the honey, and still more by the 
pollen. When the cold weather comes on, the bees 
retire to the hive under the honey, and live on the stock 
they have accumulated. 

P. 54. Many believe that bees are hybernating 
animals ; but this opinion is quite erroneous. They are 
lively throughout the winter; and the hive is always 
warm in consequence of the heat which they generate. 
The more numerous the bees in a hive, the more heat is 
developed ; and hence strong hives can resist the most 
intense cold. It once happened that I forgot to remove 
from the door, which was unusually large, of a hive in 
in winter, a perforated plate of tinned iron, which I had 
fastened over the opening to diminish the heat in July; 
and yet this hive came well through the winter, although 
the cold was very severe, having been for several days 
so low as 0°. But I had added to this hive the bees of 
two other hives! When the cold is very intense, the bees 
begin to hum. By this means respiration is accelerated 
and the developement of heat increased. If, in summer, 
bees without a queen are shut up in a glass box, they 
become uneasy and begin to hum. So much heat is by 
this means developed, that the plates of glass become 
quite hot. If the door be not opened in this case, or if 
air be not admitted, and if the glass be not cooled by the 
aid of water, the bees are soon suffocated. 


Carbon .., 


Hydrogen 


Oxygen ... 


ANALYTICAL EVIDENCE. 


COMPOSITION OF BEES WAX. 


pas pee ei De Saussure.b Oppermann.e Ettlingd Hesse 


81-784 81°607 = 81-291 8115 = 81°52 
12672 13859 14-073. = «:13°75 13-23 
5-544 4°534 4636 5°09 525 


a Traité de Chimie, par Thénard, 6™*- Ed., IV., 477. 


6 Ann. de Ch, et de Phys., XIITI., 310. 
ec Ibid. XLIX., 224. 

d Annal, der Pharm., II., 267. 

e Ibid. XXVII., 6. 


NOTE (21) a, p. 104. 


307 


Calculated 
C2H2O0. 


81°38 
13°28 
5°34 


COMPOSITION OF HYDRATED CYANURIC ACID, OF 
HYDRATED CYANIC ACID, AND OF CYAMELIDE, IN 
100 PARTS, ACCORDING TO THE ANALYSIS OF 
WOHLER AND LIEBIG.”* 4 


COMPOSITION OF ALDEHYDE, 


Carbon .. 


Cyanuric acid, cyanic 


acid, cyamelide. 


Warbon”, .s23..07 seiee ee osee ss 28°19 
Fiydrosen'si.5 .ctujeeeeses 2°30 
Nitrogen) 7 REE 32°63 
Onmyerem sss hee eee a 36°87 


a Poggendorft’s Annalen, XX., 375 et seq. 


NOTE (21) b, p. 104. 


ELALDEHYDE. a 


Aldehyde. Metaldehyde. Elaldehyde. 
Liebig.* Fehling.* 


———_—_—_—_——— 
eine 55°O24 54°511 54°620 54°467 


Hydrogen... 8°983 9°054 9°248 9°075 


»- 39°993 36°435 36°132 36°458 


a Ann. der Pharm., XIV., 142, and XXVII., 319. 
x2 


METALDEHYDE, AND 


Calculated 
C,H,402, 
55°024 

8°983 
35°993 


308 APPENDIX. 


NOTE (22), p. 105. 
COMPOSITION OF PROTEINE. 


From the From albumen. From fibrine, 
crystalline lens. Seeks a 
OO 
Carbon 5...3 2. 55°300 55°160 54°848 
Hydrogen ...... 6:940 7°055 6°959 
Nitrogen ...... 16°216 15°966 15°847 
OXyZen......00¢ 21°544 21°819 22°346 
Scherer.*a 
EE TE RTE Calculated 
From hair. From horn. CusH3gN,Ou- 
SO ee §¥-ruU“. 
Carbon:..3. 54°746 55°150 55°408 54°291 55°742 


Hydrogen TABS 7°197 7°238 7°082 6°827 

Nitrogen... 15°727 17 4F 15°593 15°5938 16°143 

Oxygen ... 22°398 21°926 21°761 23°034 21°228 
a Ann. der Chim. und Pharm., XL., 43. 


From vegetable From fibrine. From albumen. From cheese. 


albumen. 
Mulder. a 
Carbon ....e. 54°99 55°44 55°30 Sots 
Hydrogen ... 6°87 6°95 6°94 7°176 
Nitrogen::..... 15°66 16°05 16°02 15°857 
Oxygen ...... 22°48 21°56 21°74 21-808 


a Ann. der Pharm., XXVIII., 75. 


NOTE (23), p. 107. 


COMPOSITION OF THE ALBUMEN OF THE YOLK AND 
OF THE WHITE OF THE EGG. a 


From the yolk. From the white. 
Jones.* Scherer. * 
Cerin ee mins 

CarVoH':+ sce Io Fe 53°45 55:000 
Hydrogen .. 7°55 7°66 7°073 
Nitrogen ...... 13°60 13°34 15°920 
Oxygen 
Sulphur 25°13 25°55 22-007 
Phosphorus 


a Ann. der Chem, und Pharm., XL., 36, ibid. 67. 


ANALYTICAL EVIDENCE. 309 


NOTE (24), p. 111. 


COMPOSITION OF LACTIC ACID. 
C.H;0Os. 
Carbon cecsscoec.sececeee 44°90 
Fly drogenssi:2..¢iyeacassy Wi Lt 
OXYGEN acoccccsecessee 48°99 


NOTE (25), p. 115. 


GAS FROM THE ABDOMEN OF COWS AFTER EATING 
CLOVER TO EXCESS, OBTAINED BY PUNCTURE. 
a Examined by Lameyran and asia b By Vogel. 
c By Pfluger. 


Air. Carbonic acid. Inflammable gas. Sulphuretted hydrogen. 
9 5 — 1 80 Vol. in 100 Vol. 
b 25 — 27 48 —_ 

Ci = 60 40 — 
c— _ 20 80 —_ 


NOTE (26), p. 118. 
MAGENDIE FOUND IN THE STOMACH AND INTESTINES 
OF EXECUTED CRIMINALS: 

a In the case of an individual who had taken food in 
moderation one hour previous to death; 6, in the case of 
one who had done so two hours previously ; and c, in the 
case of a third, who had done so four hours previous to 


execution. 
100 Volumes of the gas contained. 


Oxygen. Nitrogen. Carbonic Inflammable 
acid. gas. 

From the stomach......s.e00. 11°00 Vol. 71°45 14°00 3°55 
a 1 —  _ smallintestines.:. 00°00 20°03 24°39 55°53 
— large intestines... 00°00 51:03 43°50 5°47 
From the stomach ............ 00°00 00:00 00-00 00°00 
b< —  _ small intestines ... 00°00 8°85 40°00 51°15 
lL — large intestines ... 00°00 18°40 70°00 11°60 
prom the stomach.....ssee.e. 00°00 00°00 00-00 00°00 
c — small intestines... 00°00 66°60 25°00 8°40 
L — large intestines ... 00°00 45°96 42°86 11°18 


310 APPENDIX. 


NOTE (27), referred to in NOTE (7), p. 43. 


COMPOSITION OF ANIMAL ALBUMEN AND FIBRINE, 
AND OF THE DIFFERENT TISSUES OF THE BODY. 


1. ALBUMEN. 


From the serum of blood. From eggs. From yolk of egg. 
Scherer.* a Jones.* 5 
I. II. III. IV. Vv. VI. 
Carbon. .c2cee 53°850 55°461 55°097 55°000 53°72 53°45 
Hydrogen 6°983 7°201 6°880 7°073 7°55 7°66 
Nitrogen ...... 15°673 15°673 15°681 15:°920 13°60 13°34 
Oxygen } 
Sulphur 23°494 21°655 22°342 22°007 25°13 25°55 
Phosphorus i 
a Ann. der Chem. und Pharm., XL., 36. 
6 Ibid, 67. 
Jones.* Scherer, * 
a 
From From From 
F ; A 
Stain, ydrocele. congestive has ee 
FD 
VII. VIII. 1D.¢ X. >. OF XII. 
Carbon ...... 55°50 54°92] 54°757 54°663 54°10] 54°302 
Hydrogen ... 7°19 7077 “laa 7022 6°947 7°176 
Nitrogen ...16°31 15°465 15-848 15°839 15°660 15°717 
Oxygen 
Sulphur 21:00 22°537 22°224 22°476 23°292 22°805 
Phosphorus 
Mulder. a 
Car Oia nei Set ea eats it 54°84 
A VAUTOSEN vae.)06, Fd. stay oricla 7°09 
INIEEG RON 2 seks nea eas. See sss 15°83 
OXYGEN a: seater suse cess 21°23 
Pulphur s soo.asee essa. «on esate 0°68 
Phosphorus ..as4.22-2-ceteees 0°33 


a Ann. der Pharm. XXVIII., 74. 


ANALYTICAL EVIDENCE. 


2. FIBRINE. 


Scherer.* a 


31] 


Se renee ieneeieentestoeeneeosacnenngennenenen ennngee eee emcees eee 
( Vth) aos oo 5S 


i Il. III. IV. we Vile VII. 
Carbon ...... 53°671 54°454 55°002 54°967 53°571 54°686 54-844 
Hydrogen ... 6°878 7°069 7°216 6°867 6°895 # 6°835 7°219 
Nitrogen 15°763 15°762) 15-817 .15:913 15°720-.15°720 16-065 
Oxygen 
Sulphur 23686) 22-405) 21-9684 22,244 (2a'Sl4-” 22°759" 21-872 
Phosphorus 
a Ann. der Chem. und Pharm., XL., 33. 
Mulder. a 
Carlen ss css. Yeeeah ook: 54°56 
Lg hf) 0¥ e273) eee She ene reeh eee 6°90 
INIEROREN <2. to ccengeacrs- nes 15°72 
Oxayreniy.c. . st gsein 08422 22°13 
oUt 0) 0.1 eee rr eer e 0°33 
Phosphorus ..........00+--++: 0°36 
a Ann. der Pharm., XXVIIL., 74. 
3. GELATINOUS TISSUES. 
Scherer.* @ 
¢ ——————— 
A Tend f th Tuni Calculated. 
Isinglass. “ralf’s foot. ‘ sclerotion CisHs1N7401s, 
——$——$$—_$_ —_—_—_—_—_—_—_—_——_—— 
Carbon... 50°557 49.563 50°960 50°774 50°995 50°207 
Hydrogen 6°903 77148 87°188 yh ise 7°075 7°001 
Nitrogen 18-790 18°470 18°320 18°320 18°723 18°170 
Oxygen... 23°750 24°819 23°532 23°754 23°207 24°622 


a Ann. der Chem. und Pharm,, XL., 46. 


Mulder. 
Cathoitens.!s<c.2 tos: 50°048 50°048 
Hydrogen ......... 6°477 6°643 
INTtrOmeH cs co8.2-4es 18°350 18°388 
Oxyeenmy  ciaayea: 25°125 24°921 


312 


APPENDIX. 


4, TIssUES CONTAINING CHONDRINE. 


Scherer.* a 


Cartilages of the 
ribs of the calf. 


Carbon .,.... "49-496 50°895 
Hydrogen... 77133 6°962 
Nitrogen... 14°908 14°908 
Oxygen 28°463 27°235 


Cornea. Cc pe ares Mulder. 
49°522 50°745 50-607 

7°097 6°904 6°578 
14°399 14°692 14°437 
28°982 27°659 28°378 


a Ann. der Chem. und Pharm., XL., 49. 


5. CoMPposITION OF THE MIDDLE MEMBRANE OF ARTERIES. 


Scherer.* @ 
io he eae 
AC Arbon Worse c2.0c 4 53°750  53°393 53°91 
PIV OrOCeH <2 2s eseaes 7079 6°973 6°96 
Nitresen.. “2.5. 2305-2: 15°360 15°360 15°60 
OXxyGen ~..< ah als tees DO OL 24°274 23°53 


a Ann, der Chem. und Pharm., XL., 51. 


6. Composition oF Horny TISSvuEs. 


Scherer.? a 
External skin Hair of Hair of the head. 
of the sole of the foot. the beard. Fair. Brown, Black. 
Carbon ... 51°036 50°752 51°529 50°652 49°345 50°622 49-935 
Hydrogen 6°801 6°761 6°687 6°769 6°576 6°613 6°631 
Nitrogen 17°225. 17-225. 17°936 17-936 17°936 .17-936 17-936 
Oxygen ...) 
24°938 25°262 23°848 24°643 26°143 24°829 25°498 
Sulphur ...S 
Scherer. * 
a SS 
Buffalo horn. Nails. Wool. c Huon 
a = 
Carbon ... 51°990 51°162 51°620 51°540 51°089 50°653 51°718 
Hydrogen 6°717 6°597 6°754 6°779 6°824 7°029 ~=6°860 
Nitrogen 17°284 17°284 17-284 17-284 16°901 17°710 17°469 
Ox ae 
“YB + V94-009 24957 24-342 24°397 25°186 24-608 23-953 
Sulphur LO: 


a Ann. der Chem. und Pharm., XL., 53. 


ANALYTICAL EVIDENCE. 313 


The composition of the membrane lining the interior of 
the shell of the egg approaches closely to that of horn. 
According to Scherer, it contains 


Scherer.* a 
Ane fens Sea cwasncehod 50°674 
Hydrogen ....... sovece «cue 6608 
Nitrogen...... SSSR Fee 16°761 
Oayaee perth Ue wee 25°957 


Sulphur 
a Ann. der Chem. und Pharm., XL., 60. 


The composition of feathers is also nearly the same as 


that of horn. 


Scherer.* a 
Beard of the Quill of the Calculated. 
feather. feather. C1sH33N7O16. 
Carbor fe Ae: 50°434 52°427 52°457 
Eivdrocen.occcess.c2s TANG 7°213 6°958 
PGRGSCU Win. oo cckes 17°682 17°893 Wier i. 53, 
Oxyren: tee tc ea. 24°774 22°467 22°866 


The analysis here given of the beard of feathers agrees 
closely with that of horn, while that of the quill is more 
accurately represented by the attached formula, which dif- 
fers from that of horn by 1 eq. of oxygen only. 


a Ann. der Chem, und Pharm, XL., 61. 


7. ComMposITION OF THE PIGMENTUM NIGRUM OcULI, 


Scherer.* a 
(a a = aT 
Caxhbow 3...32 | 58'373 58°672 57°908 
Hydrogen... 5-973 5°962 5°817 
Nitrogen ... 13°768 13°768 13°768 
Oxygen ... 21°'986 21°598 22-507 


a Ann. der Chem. und Pharm., XL., 63. 


314 APPENDIX. 


NOTE (28), p. 133. 


According to the analyses of Playfair and Boeckmann, 


0°452 partsofdry muscular flesh gave 0°836 of carbonic acid. 

WPM eto cpicasioks noaanetevaciesswavess: 10 219 OF Wate, 

A aoe sence escsepwaecessesasseecnes 0°450 of carbonic acid and 0°164 of water. 

O-191 2 ceviees swossere . 0-360. estes . 0°130 

0°305 of dried blacds gave 0° 575 Gals acid ‘ana 0: 202 ae water, 

Tig Rees ere eee ee uSie | | Ai ee ERE 0°138 

1:471 of dried blood, when calcined, left 0°065 of ashes = 4:42 per cent. 
The dried flesh was found to contain of ashes 4°23 per cent. 
The nitrogen was found to be to the carbon as 1 to 8 in equivalents. 


Hence 
Flesh (beef). Ox-blood. Blood. 
Playfair. Boeckmann, Playfair. Boeckmann, Mean of 2 analyses. 
Carbouz. =... 51°83 51°89 91°95 51:96 51°96 
Hydrogen 7°57 7°59 WAd 7°33 7°25 
Nitrogen... 15°01 15°05 15:07 = 15:08 15°07 
Oxygen... 21°37 21°24 21:39 21°21 =. 21°30 
Ashes ...... 4°25 4°23 4°42 4°42 4°42 


Deducting the ashes, or imorganic matter, the compo- 
sition of the organic part is, 


Carbon ...5.2 54°12 54°18 54°19 54:20 
Hydrogen... 7°89 7°93 7°48 7°65 
Nitrogen ... 15°67 15°71 15°72 15°73 


Oxygen...... 22°32 2218 22°31 29°12 


This corresponds to the formula 


ER eee Pee ay ee 54°62 
Vn eet ee eee 7°24 
Norah co sate ear g: 15°81 


ANALYTICAL EVIDENCE. 315 


NOTE (29), p. 134. 


COMPOSITION OF CHOLEIC ACID. 4 


Demarg¢ay. Dumas. Gan ONGOu. 
Carbon ...... 63°707 63°5 63°24 
Hydrogen ... 8°821 9°3 8°97 
Nitrogen ... 3°255 3°3 3°86 
Oxycentees: 24°217 23°9 23°95 


a Ann, der Pharm., XXVII., 284 and 293. 


NOTE (30), p. 135. 
COMPOSITION OF TAURINE AND OF CHOLOIDIC ACID. 


1. TAvuRINE. a 


Demarsgay.* Dumas. cannon 
Carbon-5...%. 19°24 19°26 19°48 
Hydrogen ... 5°78 5°66 5°57 
Nitrogen ... Lb-29 EIELY 11:37 
Oxygen ...... 63°69 63°89 63°68 
a Ann, der Pharm., XXVII., 287 and 292. 
2. Cuoxtorpic Acip. a 
Demarcay.* 
1 rep ie Ese. hae Ree 
Carbon" ss cc<. 73°301 43522 73°3 74°4 
Hydrogen ..; — 9°511 S577 9°7 9°4 
Oxyren >... 17:188 16°901 L70 16°2 


a Ann, der Pharm., XXVII., 289 and 293. 


In reference to the researches of Demargay on the bile 
I would make the following observations. 


316 APPENDIX. 


The matter to which I have given the name of choleic 
acid is the bile itself separated from the inorganic con- 
stituents (salts, soda, &c.) which it contains. By the 
action of subacetate of lead aided by ammonia, all the 
organic constituents of the bile are made to unite with 
oxide of lead, with which they form an insoluble, resinous 
precipitate. The substance here combined with oxide of 
tead contains all the carbon and nitrogen of the bile. 
The substance which I have named choloidic acid is that 
which is obtained, when the bile, purified by alcohol from 
the substances insoluble in that fluid, is boiled for some 
time with an excess of muriatic acid. It contains all the 
carbon and hydrogen of the bile, except those portions 
which have separated in the form of taurine and ammonia. 
The cholic acid contains the elements of bile, minus 
those of carbonate of ammonia. 

These three compounds, therefore, contain the products 
of the metamorphosis of the entire bile ; their formule 
express the amount of the elements of the constituents of 
the bile. No one of them exists ready formed in the bile 
in the shape in which we obtain it; their elements are 
combined in a different way from that in which they were 
united in the bile; but the way in which these elements 
are arranged has not the slightest inference on the deter- 
mination by analysis of the relative proportions of the 
elements. In the formule themselves, therefore, is in- 
volved no hypothesis ; they are simply expressions of the 
results of analysis. It signifies nothing that the choleic 
or choloidic acids may be composed of several compounds 
united together. No matter how many such they may 
contain, the relative proportions of all the elements taken 
together is expressed by the formula which is derived 
from the analysis. 

The study of the products which are produced from the 


ANALYTICAL EVIDENCE. 317 


bile by the action of the atmosphere, or of chemical re- 
agents, may be of importance in reference to certain pa- 
thological conditions; but except as concerns the general 
character of the bile, the knowledge of these products 
is of no value to the physiologist ; it is only a burthen 
which impedes his progress. It cannot be maintained of 
any one of the 38 or 40 substances, into which the bile 
has been divided or split up, that it exists ready formed 
in the healthy secretion; on the contrary, we know with 
certainty that most of them are mere products of the ac- 
tion of the re-agents which are made to act on the bile. 
The bile contains soda; but it is a most remarkable 
and singular compound of soda. When we cause that 
part of the bile which dissolves in alcohol (which contains 
nearly all the organic part) to combine with oxide of lead, 
thus separating the soda, and then remove the oxide of 
lead, we obtain a substance, choleic acid, which, when 
placed in contact with soda, forms a compound similar to 
bile in its taste ; but it is no longer bile; for bile may be 
mixed with organic acids, nay, even with dilute mineral 
acids, without becoming turbid or yielding a precipitate ; 
while the new compound, choleate of soda, is decomposed 
by the feeblest acids, the whole of the choleic acid being 
separated. Hence, bile cannot be considered, in any 
sense, as choleate of soda. Further, it may be asked, in 
what form are the cholesterine, and stearic, and margaric 
acids, which are. found in bile, contained in that fluid? 
Cholesterine is insoluble in water, and not saponifiable by 
alkalies; and if the two fatty acids just named were 
really present in the bile as soaps of soda, they would be 
instantly separated by other acids. Yet diluted acids cause 
no such separation of stearic and margaric acids in bile. 
It is possible that, in the course of new and repeated 
investigations, the composition of the substances obtained 


318 APPENDIX. 


from bile may be found different from that which has been 
given in our analytical developement of this subject. 
But this, if it should happen, can have but little effect on 
our formule ; if the relative proportions of carbon and 
nitrogen be not changed, the differences will be confined 
to the proportions of oxygen and hydrogen. In that case 
it will be necessary for the developement of our views in 
formule, only to assume that more water and oxygen, or 
less water and oxygen, have taken a share in the meta- 
morphosis of the tissues; but the truth of the develope- 


ment of the process itself will not be by this means 
affected. 


NOTE (31), p. 135. 


COMPOSITION OF CHOLIC ACID.a 


Dumas. Calculated C74H6(601s. 
CarbON. s.scéivendes veces 68°5 68°9 
Hydrogen ....... eesivae ha) 9-2 
Oxy Sen veo seneccesseseanse Ml S Pi 


a Ann. der Pharm., XXVII., 295. 


NOTE (82), p. 137. 


COMPOSITION OF THE CHIEF CONSTITUENTS OF THE 
URINE OF MEN AND ANIMALS. 


1. Uric Acip. 


Liebig.* a Mitscherlich. b Calculated C10HiNiO6, 
Carbon...... 36°083 35°82 36°00 
Hydrogen... 2°44] 2°38 23°6 
Nitrogen... 33°361 34°60 33°37 
Oxygen ... 28°126 27°20 28°27 


a Ann. der Pharm., X., 47. 
6 Poggendorff’s Ann., XX XIII., 335. 


ANALYTICAL EVIDENCE. 


2. ALLOXAN. @ 


319 


A PRODUCT OF THE OXIDATION OF URIC ACID. 


Carbon..... 30°38 
Hydrogen... 2°57 
Nitrogen .... 17°96 
Oxygen 49°03 
Prout. a 
Carbon..... 19°93 
Hydrogen... 6°65 
Nitrogen ... 46°65 
Oxygen 26°63 © 
Liebig.* a 
Carbon..... 60°742 
Hydrogen... 4°959 
Nitrogen ... 7°816 
Oxygen 26°483 
(CARUOI<cracweceses 
Elydrogen ..-...... 
Nigragen) sesceseee 
Dey Cen) reaeecsee 


Wohler and Liebig. * 


OF 


30°18 
2°48 
17°96 


49°38 


Calculated CsH4N-O10. 
30°34 
2°47 
L750 
49°64 


a Ann. der Pharm., XXVI., 260. 


3. UREA. 


Wohler and Liebig. 6 


20°02 

6°71 
46°73 
26°54 


Calculated C2H4N_O2. 
20°192 
6°595 
46°782 
26°425 


a Thomson’s Annals, XI., 352. 
& Poggend. Ann., XX., 375. 


4. CrysTALLizEp Hippuric Acip. 


Dumas. b 
60°5 
4°9 
7:7 
26°9 


Mitscherlich. ec 


Calculated 


Cis Hs NO. 
60°63 60.76 
4°98 4°92 
7°30 7°82 
26°49 26°50 


a Ann. der Pharm., XII., 20. 
6 Ann. de Ch. et de Phys., LVII., 327. 
e Poggend. Ann., XXXIII., 335. 


Wohler and Liebig. * 


30°60 


5. ALLANTOINE. @ 


Calculated CsH¢N :O6. 
30°66 
3°75 
39°50 
30°09 


a Ann, der Pharm., XXVI., 215. 


320 APPENDIX. 


6. Uric or Xanruic OXIpDE. a 


Wohler and Liebig,* Calculated Cs Hz N2 Or. 
arbors seseescoss oe 39°28 39°86 
Hydrogen .......0- 2:95 2°60 
Nitrogen .secseeee 36°35 37°72 
Oxygen .ooe. GN, Bes 21°24 20°82 


a Ann. der Pharm., XXVI., 344. 


7. Cystic OxIpE.a 


Thaulow.* Calculated C6 Hé NOs S2. 
Carboticipatacns-< 30°01 30°31 
Hydrogen ......... 5°10 4°94 
INIETOPER 6.2500 11-00 11-70 
Oxgirenee cs .see 5: 28°38 26°47 
Sulphtre..<2.2..--- 25°51 26°58 


a Ann. der Pharm. XXVII., 200. 


The cystic oxide is distinguished from all the other 
concretions occurring in the urinary bladder by the sul- 
phur it contains. It can be shewn with certainty, that 
the sulphur is present neither in the oxidised state, nor in 
combination with cyanogen ; and in regard to its origin 
the remark is not without interest, that four atoms of 
cystic oxide contain the elements of uric acid, benzoic 
acid, sulphuretted hydrogen, and water ; all of which are 


substances, the occurrence of which in the body is beyond 
all doubt. 


1 atom uric acid ... CieN, Hy 0; 
1 atom benzoic acid “="©;, *H_O; 
8 atoms sulphuret- | 

ted hydrogen ... | 
7 atoms water ...... H, 0; 


Hs; 8s 


4 atoms cystic oxide = C.,N, H»,O,.5,; = 4 (C;NH,0O,8,). 


ANALYTICAL EVIDENCE. Ayal | 


An excellent method of detecting the presence of cystic 
oxide in calculi or gravel is the following : 

The calculus is dissolved in a strong solution of caustic 
potash, and to the solution is added so much of a solution 
of acetate of lead, that all the oxide of lead is retained in 
solution. When this mixture is boiled there is formed a 
black precipitate Of sulphuret of lead, which gives to the 
liquid the aspect of ink. Abundance of ammonia is also 
disengaged ; and the alkaline fluid is found to contain, 
among other products, oxalic acid. 


NOTE (33), p. 137. 


COMPOSITION OF OXALIC, OXALURIC, AND PARABA- 


NIC ACIDS. 
1. Oxazic Acip (hydrated). 
Gay Lussac & Thénard. Berthollet, on ae 
CarDOI.,.222 seks 26°566 25'1s 26°66 
Hydrogen ... 2°745 3°09 2°22 
Oxyeen): 4o2-: 70°689 11-78 71°12 
2. Oxaturic AcID. a 
Wohler and Liebig.+ a Ge 
~~ - 3 
Carbon <0.2.2.:. 27°600 27°318 27259 
Hydrogen ...... 3°122 3°072 3°00 
Nitrogen ...... 21-218 21-218 21-29 
Oxyeen cscs. -: 48060 48°392 48°12 
a Ann. der Pharm., XXVI., 289. 
3. Parasanic ACID. a 
Wohler and Liebig.* 
SS 
Carbone .cccckes 31°95 31°940 31°91 
Hydrogen...... 2°09 1°876 1°73 
Nitrogen ...... 24°66 24° 650 24°62 
Oxyeen 2b 41°30 41°534 41°74 


a Ann. der Pharm., XXVI., 286. 
¥ 


a22 APPENDIX. 


NOTE (34), p. 138. 


COMPOSITION OF ROASTED FLESH. 
(1.) 0°307 of flesh gave 0°584 of carbonic acid and 0°206 of water. 


(2.) 0255 do. 0-485 do. 0-181 do. 
(3.) 0°179 do. 0°340 do. 0:125 = do. 
Hence— 
Flesh of roedeer (1). Flesh of beef (2). Flesh of veal (3). 
Boeckmann.* Play fair. * 
aaa 
Carbon...... 52°60 52°590 52°52 
Hydrogen... 7°45 7°886 7°87 
Nitrogen... 15°23 15°214 14:70 
Oxygen 
wee 24°72 24°310 24°91 
Ashes i 


NOTE (35), p. 142. 
The formula CygHNisOw, or CssH..N 0, gives, when 
reduced to 100 parts, 


COE Lae wikd gee . 50°07 
Fi oe ak ea 6°35 
NSCs Cele ety Riveter tele 19°32 
Ol, era ee eee . 24:26 


Compare this with the composition of gelatine, as given 


in Note (27). 


NOTE (37), p. 154. 
COMPOSITION OF LITHOFELLIC ACID. a 


Ettling and Will.* Wohler. Canoe 
Carbony.....- (E49 -51,70780.) 4/0723) 70°83 70°83 
Hydrogen ..., 10i85--- 10°73: 27 10:95.5 -107660 10°48 
Oxy Geni cas: 17:96., (1842) 18:92. “18-57 18°69 


a Ann. der Chem und Pharm., XXXIX., 242, XLI., 154. 


ANALYTICAL EVIDENCE. 323 


NOTE (38), p. 177. 


# 


COMPOSITION OF SOLANINE FROM THE BUDS OF 
GERMINATING POTATOES. a 


Blanchet. 
Carbon... :<tsahab <saen seazeegy 62°11 
Ply aietene aeesete denen: 8°92 
INNEPOP EM, cans eeciisondeneaeae s 1°64 
OXY CCM src se eee tone 27°33 


a Ann, der Pharm., VII., 150. 


NOTE (39), p. 177. 
COMPOSITION OF PICROTOXINE. a 


Francis. * 

Car honicseedetecsazcs @evee eeeee0 60°26 

Hydrogen @eeceeoeceeecnoesese eee 5:70 

Nitrogen eecoeesescveceseneoe seo 1°30 

OXYZEN. secsee.sssecsccvseese S214 
a In another analysis, M. Francis obtained 0°75 per cent. of nitrogen. 
The picrotoxine employed for these analyses was partly obtained from the 
manufactory of M. Merck, in Darmstadt, and was partly prepared by M. 


Francis himself; it was perfectly white, and beautifully crystallized. Reg- 
nault, as is well known, found no nitrogen in this compound. 


NOTE (40), p. 177. 


COMPOSITION OF QUININE. 


Canon 5. ceccetesseneyo 70 74°39 
Hydrogen e...s ssa: se 52 7°25 
Nitrogen.2¢..5.s..0-s0 po 1) 8°62 
OXYZEN wescecescveee 8°62 9°64 


¥ 2 


324 


APPENDIX. 


NOTE (41) 


» Deldie 


COMPOSITION OF MORPHIA. a 


Liebig.* 


Regnault. Calculated 
C35H20N O05 
Carbon \-steess- 4 2°340 42°01 72°41 72°28 
Hydrogen ... 6°366 6°86 6°84 6°74 
Nitrogen......  4°995 5°01 501 4°80 
Oxygen ..... 16°299 15°26 15°74 16°18 
a Ann. der Pharm., XXVI., 23. 
NOTE (42), p. 177. 
COMPOSITION OF CAFFEINE, THEINE, GUARANINE, 
THEOBROMINE, AND ASPARAGINE. 
Caffeine. a Théine. 0 Guaranine. ¢c Hee 
Pfaff and Liebig.* Jobst. Martius, 
Carbon *%...<2 49°77 50°101 49-679 49°798 
Hydrogen... 5°33 5°214 5°139 5°082 
Nitrogen ... 28°78 29.009 29-180 28°832 
Oxygen 16°12 15°676 16°002 16°288 
a Ann. der Pharm., I., 17. 
b Do. KX Ve, 63. 
c Do. XXVI_., 95. 


Guaranine is the name given to the crystallized prin- 
ciple of the guarana officinalis, till it was shewn to be 
identical with caffeine and théine, as the above analyses 


demonstrate. 


COMPOSITION OF THEOBROMINE. a 


Carbon ...... 47.21 
Hydrogen... 4°53 
Nitrogen ... 35°38 
Oxy Geiss 12°88 


Woskreseusky. 


46°97 

4°61 
35°38 
13°04 


Calculated Co Hs N3 02 
46°71 46°43 
4°52 4°20 
35°38 35°85 
13°39 13°51 


a Ann. der Chem. und Pharm., XLI., 125, 


ANALYTICAL EVIDENCE. 325 


COMPOSITION OF ASPARAGINE. a 


Liebig.* Calculated Cs Hs N2 O06 + 2HO 
Carbon ..... Abc 32°351 32°35 
Hydrogen ..... : 6°844 6°60 
Nitrogen: 2.5. 18°734 18°73 
Oxyren.-ccecs-- 42-021 42°32 


a Ann. der Pharm., VII., 146. 


ON THE CONVERSION OF BENZOIC ACID INTO 
HIPPURIC ACID.* 


By WILHELM KELLER. 


(From the Annalen der Chemie und Pharmacie.) 


So early as in the edition of Berzelius’s “ Lehrbuch der 
Chemie,” published in 1831, Professor Wohler had ex- 
pressed the opinion, that benzoic acid, during digestion, 
was probably converted into hippuric acid. This opinion 
was founded on an experiment which he had made on the 
passage of benzoic acid into the urie. He found in the 
urine of a dog which had eaten half a drachm of benzoic 


* To the evidence produced by A. Ure, of the conversion of benzoic acid 
into hippuric acid in the human body, M. Keller has added some very de- 
cisive proofs, which I append to this work on account of their physiological 
importance. The experiments of M. Keller were made in the laboratory of 
Professor Wohler, at Gottingen ; and they place beyond all doubt the fact 
that a non-azotised substance taken in the food can take a share, by means 
of its elements, in the act of transformation of the animal tissues, and in the 
formation of a secretion. This fact throws a clear light on the mode of action 
of the greater number of remedies; and if the influence of caffeine on the 
formation of urea or uric acid should admit of being demonstrated in a similar 
way, we shall then possess the key to the action of quinine and of the other 
vegetable alkalies.—J. L. 


326 APPENDIX. 


acid with his food, an acid crystallizing in needle-shaped 
prisms, which had the general properties of benzoic acid, 
and which he then took for benzoic acid. (Tiedemann’s 
Zeitschrift fiir Physiologie, i. 142.) These crystals were 
obviously hippuric acid, as plainly appears from the 
statements, that they had the aspect of nitre, and, when 
sublimed, left a residue of carbon. But at that time hip- 
puric acid was not yet discovered; and it is well known, 
that till 1829, when these acids were first distinguished 
from each other by Liebig, it was uniformly confounded 
with benzoic acid. 

The recently published statement of A. Ure, that he 
actually found hippuric acid in the urine of a patient who 
had taken benzoic acid, recalled this relation, so remark- 
able in a physiological point of view, and induced me to 
undertake the following experiments, which, at the sug- 
gestion of Professor Wohler, | made on myself. The sup- 
posed conversion of benzoic acid into hippuric acid has, 
by these experiments, been unequivocally established. 

I took, in the evening before bedtime, about thirty- 
two grains of pure benzoic acid in syrup. During the 
night I perspired strongly, which was probably an effect 
of the acid, as in general I am with great difficulty made 
to transpire profusely. I could perceive no other effect, 
even when, next day, I took the same dose three times; 
indeed, even the perspiration did not again occur. 

The urine passed in the morning had an uncommonly 
strong acid reaction, even after it had been evaporated, 
and had stood for twelve hours. It deposited only the 
usual sediment of earthy salts. But when it was mixed 
‘with muriatic acid, and allowed to stand, there were 
formed in it long prismatic, brownish crystals, in great 
quantity, which, even in this state, could not be taken for 
benzoic acid. Another portion, evaporated to the con- 


ANALYTICAL EVIDENCE. 327 


sistence of syrup, formed, when mixed with muriatic acid, 
a magma of crystalline scales. The crystalline mass was 
pressed, dissolved in hot water, treated with animal char- 
coal, and recrystallized. By this means the acid was 
obtained in colourless prisms, an inch in length. 

These crystals were pure hippuric acid. When heated, 
they melted easily; and when exposed to a still stronger 
heat, the mass was carbonised, with a smell of oil of bitter 
almonds, while benzoic acid sublimed. To remove all 
doubts, I determined the proportion of carbon in the 
crystals, which I found to be 60:4 per cent. Crystallized 
hippuric acid, according to the formula C,;,H,NO;+HO, 
contains 60°67 per cent. of carbon; crystallized benzoic 
acid, on the other hand, contains 69°10 per cent. of car- 
bon. 

As long as I continued to take benzoic acid, I was able 
easily to obtain hippuric acid in large quantity from the 
urine; and since the benzoic acid seems so devoid of any 
injurious effect on the health, it would be easy in this 
way to supply one’s self with large quantities of hippuric 
acid. It would only be necessary to engage a person to 
continue for some weeks this new species of manufacture. 

It was of importance to examine the urine which con- 
tained hippuric acid, in reference to the two normal chief 
constituents, urea and uric acid. Both were contained in 
it, and apparently in the same proportion as in the nor- 
mal urine. 

The inspissated urine, after the hippuric acid had been 
separated by muriatic acid, yielded, on the addition of 
nitric acic, a large quantity of nitrate of urea. It had 
previously deposited a powder, the solution of which in 
nitric acid gave, when evaporated to dryness, the well- 
known purple colour characteristic of uric acid. This 
observation is opposed to the statement of Ure; and he 


328 APPENDIX. 


is certainly too hasty in recommending benzoic acid as a 
remedy for the gouty and calculous concretions of uric 
acid. He seems to suppose that the uric acid has been 
employed in the conversion of benzoic acid into hippuric 
acid; but as his observations were made on a gouty pa- 
tient, it may be supposed that the urine, even without 
the internal use of benzoic acid, would have been found 
to contain no uric acid. Finally, it is clear that the hip- 
puric acid existed in the urine in combination with a base, 
because it only separated after the addition of an acid. 


EN, Die: 


dear eis 
We ct y ” laine. 
ip fa aa nla 


a ot ee i 


* 


“ a ~~ 


UML ee we 


A. 
ACID. 
—Alcetic. Composition; and relation to that of aldehyde, 279, 
280. 


—Benzoic. Composition, and relation to that of oil of bitter 
almonds, 279, 280. Converted into hippuric acid in the 
human body, 150, 325. 

—Carbonic. Is the form in which the inspired oxygen and the 
carbon of the food are given out, 13. Its formation in the 
body the chief source of animal heat, 17—22. Occurs com- 
bined with potash and soda, in the serum of the blood, 41. 
Formed by the action of oxygen on the products of the 
metamorphosis of the tissues, 60. Its formation may also 
be connected with the production of fat from starch, 85—91. 
Generated by putrefaction of food in the stomach of animals, 
115. Also by the fermentation of bad wine in man, when 
it causes death by penetrating into the lungs, 116. Escapes 
through both skin and lungs, 76. Produced, along with 
urea, by the oxidation of uric acid, 140. Produced, with 
several other compounds, by the oxidation of blood,7b. May 
be formed, along with choleic acid, from hippuric acid, 
starch, and oxygen, 152. Also, along with choleic acid, 
urea, and ammonia, by the action of water and oxygen on 
starch and proteine, 7. Produced, along with fat and urea, 
from proteine, by the action of water and oxygen, in the 
absence of soda, 154. Combines with the compound of 


oe INDEX. 


AcIpD. 
iron present in venous blood, and is given off when oxygen 
is absorbed, 269. Is absorbed by the serum of blood in all 
states, 270. 

—Cerebric. Its composition, 184. Its properties, 186. 

—Choleic. Represents the organic portion of the bile, 133. Its 
formula, 1384. Its transformations, 125. Half its formula, 
added to that of urate of ammonia, is equal to the formula 
of blood + a little oxygen and water, 136. Produced in 
the oxidation of blood, 140. Views which may be taken of 
its composition, 148. May be formed by the action of 
oxygen and water on proteine and starch, 152. Products of 
its oxidation, 154. Various ways in which it may be sup- 
posed to be formed in the body, 160. Its composition, 315. 
Cannot be said to exist ready formed in the bile, 317. 

—Cholic. Its composition, 318. Derived from choleic acid, 134, 
135. Possible relation to choleic acid, 148. 

—Choloidic. Its composition, 315. Derived from choleic acid, 
135. Possible relation to choleic acid, 148. Possible re- 
lation to starch, 157. Possible relation to proteine, 141. 

—Cyanic. Its formula, 281. 

—Cyanuric. Its formula, 281. 

—Hippuric. Its composition, 319. Appears in the urine of 
stall-fed animals, 82. Is destroyed by exercise, 82,139. Is 
probably formed in the oxidation of blood, 140. Is found 
in the human urine after benzoic acid has been administered, 
150, 325. May be derived from proteine when acted on by 
oxygen and uric acid, 151. With starch and oxygen, it 
may produce choleic and carbonic acids, 152. May be de- 
rived from the oxidation of choleic acid, 154. 

—Hydrocyanic or Prussic. Its poisonous action explained, 274. 

—Lithofellic. Its composition, 322. Probably derived from the 
oxidation of choleic acid: is the chief constituent of bezoar 
stones, 154. 

—Lactic. Its composition, 309. Its origin, 111. Does not 
exist in the healthy gastric juice, 112. 

—Margaric. Exists in bile, 317. 

—Muriatic. Exists in the free state in the gastric juice, 109, 
112. Is derived from common salt, 112, 161. 

—Ovzvaluric. Analysis of, 321. 


INDEX. Boe 


AcIp. 

—Parabanic. Analysis of, 321. 

—Phosphoric. Exists in the urine of the carnivora in consider- 
able quantity, 78, 163. Its proportion very small in that 
of the graminivora, 79. Derived from the phosphorus of the 
tissues, 78. It is retained in the body to form bones and 
nervous matter, 80. 

— Sulphuric. Exists in the urine of the carnivora, 78, 163. De- 
rived from the sulphur of the tissues, 78. 

—Uric. Its composition, 318. Products of its oxidation, al- 
loxan, oxalic acid, carbonic acid, urea, &c., 137, 140. Is 
probably derived, along with choleic acid, by the action of 
oxygen and water on blood or muscle, 136. Disappears 
almost entirely in the system of man and of the higher ani- 
mals, 55, 137. Appears as calculus, when there is a defi- 
ciency of oxygen, 137. Never occurs in pthisical cases, ib. 
Yields mulberry calculus when the quantity of oxygen is 
somewhat increased, but only urea and carbonic acid with a 
full supply of oxygen, 7b. Uric acid calculus promoted by 
the use of fat and of certain wines, 139. Unknown on the 
Rhine, 7d. Uric acid and urea, how related to allantoine, 
141; to gelatine, 142. Forms the greater part of the 
urine of serpents, 54. Yields, with the elements of proteine 
and oxygen, hippuric acid and urea, 151. How related to 
taurine, 155, 156. Calculi of it never occur in wild car- 
nivora, but often in men who use little animal food, 146. 

Arrinity, Chemical. Is the ultimate cause of the vital pheno- 
mena, 9,10. Is active only in the case of contact, and de- 
pends much on the order in which the particles are arranged, 
205. Its equilibrium renders a compound liable to transfor- 
mations, 207. In producing the vital phenomena, it is modi- 
fied by other forces, 209. It is not alone the vital force or 
vitality, but is exerted in subordination to that force, 232. 

Arr. Introduced into the stomach during digestion with the 
saliva, 113. Effects of its temperature and density, dryness, 
&c., in respiration, 15, 16. 

ALBUMEN. Animal and vegetable albumen identical, 47, 48. 
Their composition, 293, 294, 308, 309. Vegetable albumen, 
how obtained, 45. Is a compound of proteine, and in organic 
composition identical with fibrine and caseine, 47, 104, 106. 


304 INDEX. 


Exists in the yolk as well as the white of eggs, 107. Also in 
the serum of the blood, 41. Is the true starting point of all 
the animal tissues, 107, 108. 

Atconot. Is hurtful to carnivorous savages, 179. Its mode of 
action: checks the change of matter, 239. In cold climates 
serves as an element of respiration, 22. 

ALDEHYDE. Its composition ; how related to that of acetic acid, 
279, 280. 

Auxaties. Mineral alkalies essential both to vegetable and ani- 
mal life, 164. Vegetable alkalies all contain nitrogen, all act 
on the nervous system, and are all poisonous in a moderate 
dose, 177, 182. Theory of their action: they take a share in 
the transformation or production of nervous matter, for which 
they are adapted by their composition, 182—189. Action of 
caustic alkalies on bile, or choleic acid, 134. 

ALLANTOINE. Is found in the urine of the foetal calf. How de- 
rived from proteine. How related to uric acid and urea, 141. 
How related to choleic acid, 148. Its composition, 319. 

ALLEN and Pepys. Their calculation of the amount of inspired 
oxygen, 283. 

Autoxan. Formed by the oxidation of uric acid, 137. Con- 
verted by oxidation into oxalic acid and urea, oxaluric and 
parabanic acids, or carbonic acid and urea, 7b. How related to 
taurine, 156. Seems to act asa diuretic. Recommended for 
experiment in hepatic diseases, 7b. (note). 

Aumonps, Bitter. Oil of. Its composition ; how related to ben- 
zoic acid, 280. 

Ammonia. Combined with uric acid it forms the urine of ser- 
pents, birds, &c., 54. Its relation to choleic, choloidic, and 
cholic acids, 135. Is one of the products which may be 
formed by the oxidation of blood, 140; or of proteine, 152. 
Its relation to uric acid, urea, and taurine, 155. To allan- 
toine and taurine, 155, 156. To alloxan and taurine, 156. 
To choleic and choloidic acid and taurine, 158. To urea, 
water, and carbonic acid, 159. Is found in combination with 
acids in the urine of the carnivora, 163. 

Anatysis. Of dry blood, 283, 314. Of dried flesh, 314. Of 
feeces, 285. Of black bread, ib. Of potatoes, 7b. Of peas, 
ib. Of beans, 7b. Of lentils, 7b. Of fresh meat, 7b. Of 
moist bread, 7b. Of moist potatoes, 7b. Of the fibrine and 


INDEX. 33D 


albumen of blood, 298, 310, 311. Of vegetable fibrine and 
albumen, vegetable caseine and gluten, 294, 295. Of animal 
caseine, 295. Of starch, 296, 297. Of grape or starch sugar, 
297. Of sugar of milk, 298. Of gum, 7b. Of oats, 2. Of 
hay, 299. Of fat, 300. Of cane-sugar, 7b. Of cholesterine, 
ib. Of wax, 307. Of cyanic acid, cyanuric acid, and cyame- 
lide, 308. Of aldehyde, metaldehyde, and elaldehyde, 307. Of 
proteine, 308. Of albumen from the yolk and white of egg, 76. 
Of lactic acid, 309. Of gas from the stomach of cows after 
eating to excess, 7b. Of gas from stomach and intestines of 
executed criminals, 7b. Of gelatinous tissues, 311. Of tissues 
containing chondrine, 312. Of arterial membrane, id. Of 
horny tissues, 7. Of the lining membrane of the egg, 313. 
Of feathers, id. Of the pigmentum nigrum, 7b. Of choleic 
acid, 315. Of taurine, 7b. Of choloidic acid, 7b. Of cholic 
acid, 318. Of uric acid, 7. Of alloxan, 319. Of urea, 70. 
Of hippuric acid, id. Of allantoine, ib. Of xanthic oxide, 
320. Of cystic oxide, 7b. Of oxalic acid, 320. Of oxaluric 
acid, 7b. Of parabanic acid, 7b. Of roasted flesh, 322. Of 
lithofellic acid, 7b. Of solanine, 323. Of picrotoxine, 20. 
Of quinine, 7b. Of morphia, 324. Of caffeine, theine, or 
guaranine, ib. Of theobromine, 7b. Of asparagine, 325. 

Animat Hear. Derived from the combination of oxygen with 
the carbon and hydrogen of the metamorphosed tissues, which 
proceed ultimately from the food, 17, 18. Is highest in those 
animals whose respiration is most active, 19. Is the same 
in man in all climates, 19, 20. Is kept up by the food 
in proportion to amount of external cooling, 22. Is not pro- 
duced either by any direct influence of the nerves, or by mus- 
cular contractions, 29—34. Its amount in man, 34. Che- 
mical action the sole source of it, 38. The formation of fat 
from starch or sugar must produce heat, 91, 94. The ele- 
ments of the bile, by combining with oxygen, serve chiefly to 
produce it, 61. 

Anima Lire. Distinguished from vegetable life by the absorp- 
tion of oxygen, and the production of carbonic acid, 2. Must 
not be confounded with consciousness, 6, 7. Conditions ne- 
cessary to animal life, 9, 12. Depends on an equilibrium be- 
tween waste and supply, 245, 254, 265. 

AnTIsEPTics. They act by putting a stop to fermentation, putre- 


336 INDEX. 


faction, or other forms of metamorphosis, 170. Their action 
on wounds and ulcers, 121. 

ARTERIES. Composition of their tunica media, 312. How de- 
rived from proteine, 126. 

ARTERIAL Bioop. Conveys oxygen to every part of the body, 
60, 269. Contains a compound of iron, most probably per- 
oxide, 269. Yields oxygen in passing through the capillaries, 
60, 271. Contains carbonic acid dissolved or combined with 
soda, 272. 

ASPARAGINE. Its composition, 325. Its relation to taurine and 
bile, 180. Theory of its action on the bile, 181. 

ASSIMILATION. In animals it is independent of external influ- 
ences, 3. Depends on the presence in the blood of compounds 
of proteine, such as fibrine, albumen, or caseine, 40, 106. Is 
more energetic in the young than in the adult animal, 67. Is 
also more energetic in the herbivora than in the carnivora, 81. 

ATMOSPHERE. See AIR. 

AzoTIsED Propucts. Of vegetable life, 45, 176—182, Of the 
metamorphosis of tissues. Necessary for the formation of bile 
in the herbivora, 158. In man, 166,168. May be replaced 
by azotised vegetable compounds, 169—170. ‘Theory of this, 
177—182. Of the transformation of the bile, or of choleic 
acid; how related to the constituents of urine, 155. 


DB. 


Beans. Composition of, 285. 

Beer. Forms part of the diet of soldiers in Germany, 286, 288. 

Bers. Their power of forming wax from honey, 301—306. 

Benzoic Acrp. See Acip, Benzoic. 

BerTHou.et. His analysis of oxalic acid, 321. 

Berzevivs. His analysis of potato starch, 297; of sugar of 
milk, 298; of gum, 7b.; of cane sugar, 300. 

Bezoar stones. See Acip, Lithofellic. 

Buancuet. His analysis of solanine, 323. 

Bite. In the carnivora is a product of the metamorphosis of the 
tissues, along with urate of ammonia, 136. May be repre- 
sented by choleate of soda, with which, however, it is not iden- 
tical, 317. Products of its transformation, 135, 317. Re- 
marks on these, 815—818. Origin of bile, 61, 144. Starch, 
&c., contribute to its formation in the herbivora, 146— 


INDEX, 337 


150, 159, 160, 166. Soda essential to it, 154, 162—164. 
Relation of bile to urine, 156. To starch, 157. ‘To fibrine, 
136. To caffeine, &c., asparagine, and theobromine, 180. 
For the acid substances derived from bile, choleic, choloidic, 
and cholic acids, see Acip, choleic, &e. Yields taurine, 135, 
Contains cholesterine, 85, 317. Also stearic and margaric 
acids, 317. Its function: to support respiration and produce 
animal heat by presenting carbon and hydrogen in a very so- 
luble form to the oxygen of the arterial blood, 61—64. 
Amount secreted by the dog, the horse, and man, 64. It re- 
turns entirely into the circulation, and disappears completely, 
60—66. 

Buioop. The fluid from which every part of the body is formed, 
8. Its chief constituents, 40. How formed from vegetable 
food, 45. Can only be formed from compounds of proteine, 48. 
Is therefore entirely derived from vegetable products in the 
herbivora, and indirectly also by the carnivora, which feed on 
the flesh of the former, 48. Its composition identical with 
that of flesh, 133. Analysis of both, 314. ‘The secretions 
contain all the elements of the blood, 132. Its relation to bile 
and urine, 136. Products of the oxidation of blood, 140. 
Excess of azotised food produces fulness of blood and disease, 
145. Soda is present in the blood, 161—164. Important 
properties of the blood, 171—175. Venous blood contains 
iron, probably as protoxide; arterial blood, probably as perox- 
ide, 271, 273. ‘Theory of the poisonous action of sulphuretted 
hydrogen and Prussic acid : they decompose the compound of 
iron in the blood, 274. The blood, in analogous morbid states, 
ought to be chemically examined, 275. 

Buioop-LeTtine. Theory of its mode of action, 258. It may 
produce opposite effects in different cases, 264. 

Bacxmann. His analysis of black bread, 285; of potatoes, 20.; 
of dry beef, 314; of dry blood, 7b.; of roasted flesh, 322. 

Bones. Phosphoric acid of the food retained to assist in forming 
them, 80. Gelatine of bones digested by dogs, 97. See, fur- 
ther, GeLATINE. Cause of brittleness in bones, 99. 

BovussincGauttr. His analysis of potatoes, 285. His comparison 
of the food and excretions in the horse and cow, Table, 290. 
His analysis of gluten, 294 ; of vegetable albumen, 7).; of ve- 
getable caseine, 295 ; of oats, 298 ; of hay, 299, 

Z 


335 INDEX. 


Braconnot. On the presence of lactic acid in gastric juice, 112 ; 
of iron in the gastric juice of the dog, 113. 

Brain. See Acip, Cerebric, and Nervous MatTrTeErR. 

Breap. Analysis of, 285. 

Brunn. His analysis of sugar of milk, 298. 

Bucxwueat. Analysis of starch from, 296. 

Burpacu. His statement of the amount of bile secreted by ani- 

’ mals, 64. 

Burrer. Forms a part of the food of soldiers in Germany, 286, 
288. 

Buzzarp. Its excrements consist of urate of ammonia, 54. 


C. 


CAFFEINE. Identical with theine, 179. Its relation to taurine 
and bile, 180. Theory of its mode of action, 181. Its com- 
position, 324. 

Cane Sucar. Its composition, 300. 

Carson. Is accumulated in the bile, 61. Is given off as car- 
bonic acid, 13. Excess of carbon causes hepatic diseases, 24. 
By combining with oxygen, it yields the greater part of the 
animal heat. See Anrmat Heat, Brie, and Acip, Carbonic. 
Amount of carbon oxidised daily in the body of a man, 14. 
Calculations on which this statement is founded, 284—289. 
Amount consumed by the horse and cow, 14. Different pro- 
portions of carbon in different kinds of food, 17. Carbon of 
flesh compared with that of starch, shewing the advantage of 
a mixed diet, 76. Calculation on which this statement is 
founded, 299. Amount of carbon in dry blood calculated, 283. 
Amount in the food of prisoners calculated, 293. 

Carponic Acip. See Acip, Carbonic. 

Carponates. They occur in the blood, 41. 

Caxucutus, Mulberry. Derived from the imperfect oxidation of 
uric acid, 137. Uric acid calculus is formed in consequence 
of deficiency of inspired oxygen, or excess of carbon in the 
food, 137. See Acip, Uric. Bezoar stones composed of 
lithofellic acid, 154. 

Carnivora. Their nutrition the most simple, 44. It is ulti- 
mately derived from vegetables, 48, 49. Their young, like 
graminivora, require non-azotised compounds in their food, 50. 
Their bile is formed from the metamorphosis of their tissues, 


INDEX. 339 


59, 61. The process of assimilation in adult and young car- 
nivora compared, 67. Their urine, 78. The assimilative pro- 
cess in adult carnivora less energetic than in graminivora, 80. 
They are destitute of fat, 82. They swallow less air with 
their food than graminivora, 118. Concretions of uric acid 
are never found in them, 146. Both soda and ammonia found 
in their urine, 163. 

CaszInE. One of the azotised nutritious products of vegetable 
life, 47. Abundant in leguminous plants, 47. Identical in 
organic composition with fibrine and albumen, 47,48. Animal 
caseine found in milk and cheese: identical with vegetable 
caseine, 51. Furnishes blood to the young animal, 52. Is 
one of the plastic elements of nutrition, 96. Yields proteine, 
105, 106. Its relation to proteine, 126. It contains sulphur, 
2b. Potash essential to its production, 164. Contains more 
of the earth of bones than blood does, 52. Its analysis, 295. 

Crresric Acip. See Acip, Cerebric. 

Cuance oF Matter. See Meramorpnosis or TIssvEs. 

CuEmicaL ATTRACTION. See AFFINITY. 

CueEvrevuL. His researches on fat, 84. His analysis of fat, 300 ; 
of cholesterine, 70. 

CHLORIDE oF SopIuM. See Common Sa tr. 

Cuoxuzic Acip. See Acrp, Choleic. 

CHOLESTERINE. See BILE. 

Cuonic Acip. See Acip, Cholic. 

Cuotorpic Acip. See Acip, Choloidic. 

CHonpRINE. Its relation to proteine, 126. Analysis of tissues 
containing it, 312. 

Curonic Diszasres. The action of inspired oxygen is the cause 
of death in them, 27, 28. 

Cuyie. When it has reached the thoracic duct, it is alkaline, 
and contains albumen coagulable by heat, 145. 

Cuyme. It is formed independently of the vital force, by a che- 
mical transformation, 108. The substance which causes this 
transformation is derived from the living membrane of the 
stomach, 109. Chyme is acid, 145. 

Cioruine. Warm clothing is a substitute for food to a certain 
extent, 22. Want of clothing accelerates the rate of cooling, 
and the respirations, and thus increases the appetite, 2. 

Coty. Increases the appetite by accelerating the respiration, 22. 

ye: 


340 INDEX. 


Is most judiciously employed as a remedy in cerebral inflam- 
mation, 261. 

Concretions. See Catcutus, and Acip, Uric; also Acrp, 
Lithofellic. 

ConstituEnTs, Azotised. Of blood: see Fiprine and ALsu- 
MEN. Of vegetables: see Fisrine, Vegetable; ALsumeEn, 
Vegetable; Casrrnr, Vegetable; ALKatizs, Vegetable; and 
CarFEINE. Of bile: see Acip, Choleic, Cholic, and Choloidic. 
Of urine: see Acip, Uric; Urea, and ALLANTOINE. 

Cooutinc. See Coin and CLoruine. 

Coverse. His analysis of cholesterine, 300. 

Cow. Amount of carbon expired by the, 14. Comparison of 
the food with the excretions of the cow, 291. 

Crum. His analysis of cane sugar, 300. 

Curtivation. Is the economy of force, 78. 

CYAMELIDE. Its formula, 280. 

Cyanic Acip. See Acip, Cyanic. 

CyanipDE oF Iron. Its remarkable properties, 269. 

Cyanuric Acip. See Acip, Cyanurie. 


D. 


Davy. Oxygen consumed by an adult man, 283. 

Deatu. Cause of, in chronic diseases, 27, 28. Caused in old 
people by a slight depression of temperature, 255. Definition 
of it, 254. 

Demarcay. His analysis of choleic acid, choloidic acid, and 
taurine, 315. Remarks on his Researches on Bile, 316. 

Denis. His experiments on the conversion of fibrine into albu- 
men, 42. 

Despretz. His calculation of the heat developed in the com- 
bustion of carbon, 34. 

Diasetes Mexuirus. The sugar found in the urine in this 
disease 1s grape sugar, and is derived from the starch of the 
food, 95. 

Drastase. Analogy between its solvent action on starch, and 
that of the gastric juice on coagulated albumen, 111. 

Dirrusion oF Gases. Explains the fact that nitrogen is given 
out through the skin of animals, 118; and the poisonous 
action of feather-white wine, 116. 

Dicestion. Is effected without the aid of the vital force, by a 


INDEX. 341 


metamorphosis derived from the transformation of a substance 
proceeding from the lining membrane of the stomach, 109. 
The oxygen introduced with the saliva assists in the process, 
113. Lactic acid has no share in it, 111, 112. 

Disease. Theory of, 254 et seg. Cause of death in chronic 
disease, 27. Disease of liver caused by excess of carbon or 
deficiency of oxygen, 23. Prevails in hot weather, 24. 

Doc. Amount of bile secreted by, 64. Digests the gelatine of 
bones, 97. His excrements contain only bone earth, 98. 
Concretion of urate of ammonia said to have been found by 
Lassaigne in a dog, doubtful, 146 (note). 

Dumas. His analysis of choleic acid, 315; of choloidic acid, 
2b.; of taurine, ib.; of cholic acid, 318; of hippuric acid, 
319. 


E. 


Eces. Albumen of the white and of the yolk identical, 107. 
Analysis of both, 308; of lining membrane, 313. The fat of 
the yolk may contribute to the formation of nervous matter, 
108. This fat contains iron, 107. 

ELALDEHYDE. See ALDEHYDE. 

Exements. Of nutrition, 96. Of respiration, 7d. 

Empyreumatics. They check transformations, 170. Their ac- 
tion on ulcers, 121. 

Eauitisrium. Between waste and supply of matter is the ab- 
stract state of health, 245, 258. ‘Transformations occur in 
compounds in which the chemical forces are in unstable equi- 
librium, 109. 

Erriine.. His analysis of wax, 307. Erriuine and Witt. Their 
analysis of lithofellic acid, 322. 

ExcrEMENTs. Contain little or no bile in man and in the herbi- 
vora, none at all in the dog and other carnivora, 64. Those 
of the dog are phosphate of lime, 98. Those of serpents are 
urate of ammonia, 54. ‘Those of birds also contain that salt, 
54. Those of the horse and cow compared with their food, 
290, 291. 

Excretions. Contain, with the secretions, the elements of the 
blood or of the tissues, 132—136. ‘Those of the horse and 
cow compared with their food, 290, 291. Bile is not an 
excretion, 63. 


34? INDEX. 


F. 

Faces. Analysis of, 285. 

Far. ‘Theory of its production from starch, when oxygen is defi- 
cient, 83 et seq.; from other substances, 86. The formation 
of fat supplies a new source of oxygen, 89; and produces heat, 
90 et seq. Maximum of fat, how obtained, 94. Carnivora 
have no fat, 82. Fat install-fed animals, 89. Occurs insome 
diseases in the blood, 95. Fat in the women of the East, 99. 
Composition compared with that of sugar, 84, 85. Analysis 
of fat, 300. Disappears in starvation, 25. Is an element of 
respiration, 96. 

Fattrentne or Animats. See Far. 

FEATHERWHITE WINE. Its poisonous action, 116. 

FEBRILE Paroxysm. Definition of, 256. 

Frenne. His analysis of metaldehyde and elaldehyde, 307. 

FrrmMentation. May be produced by any azotised matter ina 
state of decomposition, 120. Is arrested by empyreumatics, 
2b. Is analogous to digestion, 119. 

Fever. Theory and definition of, 256. 

Fisre. Muscular. See Flesh. 

Fisrine. Is an element of nutrition, 96. Animal and vegetable 
fibre are identical, 45. Is a compound of proteine, 105. Its 
relation to proteine, 126. Convertible into albumen, 42. Is 
derived from albumen during incubation, 107. Its analysis, 
293, 294, 311. Vegetable fibrine, how obtained, 45, 46. 

Fisnes. Yield phosphuretted hydrogen, 191 (note). 

ILesu. Consists chiefly of fibrine, but, from the mixture of fat 
and membrane, has the same formula as blood, 133. Analysis 
of flesh, 314, 322. Amount of carbon in flesh compared with 
that of starch, 77, 299. 

Foop. Must contain both elements of nutrition and elements of 
respiration, 96. Nutritious food, strictly speaking, is that 
alone which is capable of forming blood, 40. Whether derived 
from animals or from vegetables, nutritious food contains pro- 
teine, 44, 106 et seg. Changes which the food undergoes in 
the organism of the carnivora, 53 et seg. The food of the 
herbivora always contains starch, sugar, &c., 70. Food, how 
dissolved, 108 ef seg. Azotised food has no direct influence on 
the formation of uric acid calculus, 138. Effects of super- 


INDEX. 343 - 


abundant azotised food, 145, 146. Non-azotised food contri- 
butes to the formation of bile, and thus to respiration, 147 et 
seq. Salt must be added to the food of herbivora, in order to 
yield soda for the bile, 162. Caffeine, &c., serve as food.for 
the liver, 188. The vegetable alkalies may be viewed as food 
for the organs which form the nervous matter, 189. Amount 
of food consumed by soldiers in Germany, 286. Its analysis, 
284. Food of the horse and cow compared with their excre- 
tions, 290, 291. 

Formuta. Explanation of their use, 280. How reduced to 100 
parts, 281. Formule of albumen, fibrine, caseine, and animal 
tissues, 126. Formula of proteine, 121; of blood and flesh, 
133; of fat, 85; of cholesterine, 85; of aldehyde, acetic acid, 
oil of bitter almonds, and benzoic acid, 280; of cyamelide, 
cyanic acid, and cyanuric acid, 280; of choleic acid, 134 ; of 
choloidic acid and cholic acid, 135; of gelatine, 142; of hip- 
puric acid, 150; of lithofellic acid, 154; of taurine, 155; of 
alloxan, 156. See ANALysIs. 

Francis. His analysis of picrotoxine, 323. 

Fremy. Lameyran and Frémy. Their analysis of gas from the 
abdomen of cows after excess in fresh food, 309. His re- 
searches on the brain, 43, 184. 

FrEQquENcy of the pulse and respiration in different animals, 19, 
202: 

Fruits. Contain very little carbon, and hence are adapted for 
food in hot climates, 17. 


G. 


Gas. Analysis of gas from abdomen of cows after excess in fresh 
food, 115, 8309. Analysis of gas from the stomach and intes- 
tines of executed criminals, 115, 309. 

Gastric Juice. Contains no solvent but a substance in a state 
of metamorphosis, by the presence of which the food is dis- 
solved, 109. Contains free acid, 7b. Contains no lactic acid, 
112. In the dog has been found to contain iron, 113. See 
Digestion, Cuyme, Foon. 

Gay-Lussac and Tuenarp. Their analysis of starch, 297; of 
sugar of milk, and of gum, 298; of cane sugar, 300; of wax, 
307 ; of oxalic acid, 321. 

Getatine. Is derived from proteine, but is no longer a com- 


344 INDEX. 


pound of proteine, and cannot form blood, 127 et seg. May 
serve as food for the gelatinous tissues, and thus spare the 
stomach of convalescents, 98, 130. In starvation the gelati- 
nous tissues remain intact, 97. Its relation to proteine, 126. 
Its formula, 142. Its analysis, 311, 322. 

GorsBEL. His analysis of gum, 298. 

Guosvutes of the blood are the carriers of oxygen to all parts of 
the body, 171—175. They contain iron, 265 et seq. 

GuuTen. Contains vegetable fibrine, 46. Analysis of it, 295. 

Gmeuin. On the sugar of bile, 147. 

Goosr. How fattened to the utmost, $4. 

GraAMINiIvorA. See HERBIVORA. 

Graper-sucaAr. An element of respiration, 96. Is identical with 
starch sugar and diabetic sugar, 72. Its composition, 73. Its 
analysis, 297. 

Grow TH, or increase of mass, greater in graminivora than in 
carnivora, 80. Depends on the blood, 40; and on compounds 
of proteine, 106. See Nurririon. 

Gum. An element of respiration, 96. Its composition, 73. Is 
related to sugar of milk, 76. Its analysis, 298. 

Gunp.LacH. His researches on the formation of wax from honey 
by the bee, 301. 


H, 


Hair. Analysis of, 312. Its relation to proteine, 126. Ana- 
lysis of proteine from hair, 308. 

Hay. Analysis of, 299. 

Hepatic Diseases. Cause of, 23. 

Herpivora. Their blood derived from compounds of proteine 
in their food, 48. But they require also for their support 
non-azotised substances, 70. These last assist in the forma- 
tion of their bile, 147 et seg. ‘They retain the phosphoric 
acid of their food to form bone and nervous matter, 80. 
Their urine contains very little phosphoric acid, 79. The 
energy of vegetative life in them is very great, 81. They be- 
come fat when stall-fed, 82. 

Hess. His analysis of wax, 307. 

Hypernatine Animas. Their fat disappears during the win- 
ter sleep, 25. They secrete bile and urine during the same 
period, 61. 


INDEX. 345 


Hirruric Acip. See Acip, Hippuric. 

Horn. Analysis of, 312. Contains proteine; its relation to 
proteine, 126. Analysis of proteine from horn, 308. 

Horst. Amount of carbon expired by, 14.. Comparison of his 
food with his excretions, 290. Force exerted by a horse in 
mechanical motion compared to that exerted by a whale, 337. 

Hyprocyanic Acip. See Acip, Hydrocyanic. 

Hyprocen. By combining with oxygen contributes to produce 
the animal heat, 25. 


E 


Icz. Is judiciously employed as a remedy in cerebral inflamma- 
tion, 261. 

INORGANIC constituents of albumen, fibrine, and caseine, 41, 121, 
126. 

Jossr. His analysis of theine, 324. 

Jones, Dr. Bence. His analysis of vegetable fibrine, 294; of 
vegetable albumen, 7b.; of vegetable caseine, 295; of gluten, 
2b.; of the albumen of yolk of egg, 308, 310; of the albumen 
of brain, 310. 

Iron. Is an essential constituent of the globules of the blood, 
265 et seq. Is found in the fat of yolk of egg, 107. Also 
in the gastric juice of the dog, 113. Singular properties of 
its compounds, 268. 

Isomreric Bopizes. 103, 280. 


K; 


Krier. His researches on the conversion of benzoic acid into 
hippuric acid in the human body, 325. 

Kipnrys. ‘They separate from the arterial blood the nitroge- 
nised compounds destined for excretion. 


L. 


Lactic Acip. See Acip, Lactic. 

Lavoisier. His calculation of the amount of inspired oxygen, 
12, 283. 

Leumann. On the presence of lactic acid in gastric juice, 112. 

Lizsic. His analysis of sugar of milk, 298; of cane sugar, 
300 ; of aldehyde, 307; of uric acid, 318; of hippuric acid, 
319; of quinine, 323; of morphia, 324; of asparagine, 325. 


346 INDEX. 


His calculation of the carbon daily expired as carbonic acid, 14, 
284. Table, 289. His remarks on Demarcay’s researches on 
bile, 315—318. 

Lizrsig AND Prarr. ‘Their analysis of caffeine, 324. 

Lizsig AND Wo6utER. ‘Their analysis of alloxan, 319; of urea, 
ib.; of allantoine, 7b. ; of xanthic oxide, 320; of oxalunie acid, 
321; of parabanic acid, 7d. 

Lentizs. Contain vegetable caseine, 47. Analysis of, 284, 
285. Form part of the diet of soldiers in Germany, 287. 
Table, 289. 

Lieut. Its influence on vegetable life analogous to that of heat 
on animal life, 233. 

Limre. Phosphate of. See Bonss. 

Liver. It separates from the venous blood the carbonised con- 
stituents destined for respiration, 58. Diseases of the liver, 
how produced, 23. Accumulation of fat in the liver of the 
goose, 95. 


M. 


Maize. Analysis of starch from, 297. 

Marcuanp. On the amount of urea in the urine of the dog 
when fed on sugar, 61. His analysis of cholesterine, 300. 

Marcer. His analysis of gluten, 294. 

Martius. His analysis of guaranine, 324. 

MecuanicaL Errects. See Motion. 

Mepicine. Definition of the objects of, 257 et seg. Action of 
medicinal agents, 170 et seq. 

Menziss. His calculation of the amount of inspired oxygen, 12, 
283. 

METALDEHYDE. See ALDEHYDE. 

Meramorruosis oF TissuEs. 103 et seg. In other parts of 
the volume, passim. 

Mixx. Is the only natural product perfectly fitted to sustain life, 
51. Contains caseine, ib. Fat (butter), 2b. Sugar of milk, 
ib. Earth of bones, 52. And potash, 164. 

Morpura. Contains less nitrogen than quinine, 177. Its ana- 
lysis, 324. 

MirscuEeruicu. His analysis of uric acid, 318; of hippuric acid, 
a9. 

Momentum. Of force, 202. Of motion, 2d. 


INDEX. 347 


Motion. Phenomena of motion in the animal body, 196 et seq. 
Different sources of motion 199. Momentum of motion, 202. 
Motion propagated by nerves, 219. Voluntary and involun- 
tary motions accompanied by a change of form and structure 
in living parts, 220. Motion derived from change of matter, 
221 et seq. The cause of motion in the animal body is a pe- 
culiar force, 232. The sum of the effects of motion in the 
body proportional to the amount of nitrogen in the urine, 245. 

Mouuserry Catcutus. See Carcuurus. 

Mutper. Discovered proteine, 105. His analysis of fibrine of 
blood, 293. Of animal caseine, 296. Of proteine, 308. Of 
fibrine, 311. Of gelatine, 7d. Of chondrine, 312. 

Mouscize. See FLEsH. 

Muscutar Fisre. Its transformation depends on the amount 
of force expended in producing motion, 220. 


N. 


Nerves. Are the conductors of the vital force, and of mechani- 
cal effects, 219. Effects of the disturbance of their conducting 
power, 229. They are not the source of animal heat, 29. 

Nervous Lire. Distinguished from vegetative, 38. 

Nervous Martrer. Contains albumen, and fatty matter of a 
peculiar kind, 43. Vegetables cannot produce it, 50. The 
fat of yolk of egg probably contributes to its formation, 108. 
The phosphoric acid and phosphates, formed in the metamor- 
phosis of the tissues of the herbivora, are retained to assist in 
the formation of nervous matter, 80. The vegetable alkalies 
affect the nervous system, 182—-184. Composition of cerebric 
acid, 184. Theory of the action of the vegetable alkalies, 185. 

Nirrocen. Essential to all organised structures, 42,43. Sub- 
stances in the body which are destitute of it not organised, 43. 
Abounds in nutritious vegetables, 45. Nutritious forms in 
which it occurs, 7b. et seg. Occurs in all vegetable poisons, 
177; also in a few substances which are neither nutritious nor 
poisonous, but have a peculiar effect on the system, such as 
caffeine, 177 et seq. 

NITROGENISED. See AzorIsED. 

Non-AzorTisEp. Constituents of food. See Srarcu. 

Nourrition. Depends on the blood, 40. On Albumen, fibrine, 
or caseine, 40 e¢ seg. Elements of nutrition, 96. Compounds 


348 INDEX. 


of proteine alone are nutritious, 106. Occurs when the vital 
force is more powerful than the opposing chemical forces, 198. 
Theory of it, 210. Is almost unlimited in plants from the ab- 
sence of nerves, 212. Depends on the momentum of force 
in each part, 227. Depends also on heat, 243. 


O. 


Oats. Amount required to keep a horse in good condition, 74. 
Analysis of, 298. 

O1t oF Birrer Atmonps. Ite composition. How related to 
benzoic acid, 279, 280. 

Oup Acer. Characteristics of, 248 et seq. 

OpreRMANN. His analysis of wax, 307. 

Organs. The food of animals always consists of parts of organs, 
2. All organs in the body contain nitrogen, 42, 43. There 
must exist organs for the production of nervous matter, 189 ; 
and the vegetable alkalies may be viewed as food for these 
organs, 20. 

OreaniseD Tissues. All contain nitrogen, 42, 43. All such as 
are destined for effecting the change of matter are full of small 
vessels, 223. Their composition, 126. The gelatinous and 
cellular tissues, and the uterus, not being destined for that 
purpose, are differently constructed, 224. Waste of organised 
tissues rapid in carnivora, 76. 

Oricrn. Of animal heat, 17, 31. Of fat, 81 et seg. Of the 
nitrogen exhaled from the lungs, 114 et seg. Of gelatine, 127 
et seg., 143. Of uric acid and urea, 135 et seg. Of bile, 135, 
143, 146 et seg., 159. Of hippuric acid, 150, 325. Of the 
chief secretions and excretions, 152. Of the soda of the bile, 
161 et seq. Of the nitrogen in bile, 168. Of nervous matter, 
183 et seq. 

Orrticosa. Hisanalysis of starch, 297. 

Oxauic Acrp. A product, along with urea, of the partial oxida- 
tion of uric acid, occurring in the form of mulberry calculus, 
137. Its analysis, 321. 

Oxycren. Amount consumed by man daily, 12, 283. Amount 
consumed daily in oxidising carbon by the horse and cow, 14. 
The absorption of oxygen characterizes animal life, 2. The 
action of oxygen is the cause of death in starvation and in 
chronic diseases, 25—-28. The amount of oxygen inspired 


INDEX. 349 


varies with the temperature, dryness, and density of the air, 
16. Is carried by arterial blood to all parts of the body, 171. 
Fat differs from sugar and starch only in the amount of oxy- 
gen, 84. It also contains less oxygen than albumen, fibrine, 
&c., 86. The formation of fat depends on a deficiency of oxy- 
gen, 88 et seq.; and helps to supply this deficiency, 89. Oxy- 
gen essential to digestion, 113. Relation of oxygen to some 
of the tissues formed from proteine, 126. Oxygen and water, 
added to blood or to flesh, yield the elements of bile and of 
urine, 135. Action of oxygen on uric acid, 136, 139; on 
hippuric acid, 82, 139; on blood, 140; on proteine, with uric 
acid, 151; on proteine and starch, with water, 152; on cho- 
leic acid, 154; on proteine, with water, 154. By depriving 
starch of oxygen and water, choloidic acid may be formed, 157. 
Oxygen is essential to the change of matter, 173. Its action 
on the azotised constituents of plants when separated, 213. 
Its action on the muscular fibre essential to the production of 
force, 220—226. Oxygen is absorbed by hybernating animals, 
241. Is the cause of the waste of matter, 243; and of animal 
heat, 244, 252. Blood-letting acts by diminishing the amount 
of oxygen which acts on the body, 258. Its absorption is the 
cause of the change of colour from venous to arterial blood, 
265. The globules probably contain oxide of iron, protox- 
ide in venous blood, peroxide in arterial, 267 et seg. All 
parts of the arterial blood contain oxygen, 173, 174, 266, 
271. 
P; 

Pears. Analysis of starch from unripe, 297. 

Peas. Form part of the diet of soldiers in Germany, 287, 289. 
Abound in vegetable caseine, 47. Analysis of peas, 285; of 
starch from peas, 296. 

Pepys and Auten. Their calculation of the amount of inspired 
oxygen, 283. 

PEROXIDE OF Iron. Probably exists in arterial blood, 267 e¢ seq. 

Pruiicger. His analysis of the gas obtained by puncture from the 
abdomen of cattle after excess in green food, 309. 

PHENOMENA Of motion in the animal body, 195 e¢ seq. 

Puospuates. See Bonzs. 

PuospHoric Acip. See Acip, Phosphoric. 

PuospHorus. Exists in albumen and fibrine, 41, 48, 126. It is 


350 INDEX. 


not known in what form, 121 et seq. Is an essential constitu- 
ent of nervous matter, 184, 190. 

PHosPHURETTED Hyprocen. Occurs among the products of the 
putrefaction of fishes, 190, 191. 

PicroTroxiINe. Contains nitrogen, 177 (note). Its analysis, 323. 

Prants. Distinguished from animals by fixing carbon and giving 
out oxygen, 2, 213; by the want of nerves and of locomotive 
powers, 8. Their capacity of growth almost unlimited, 212. 
Cause of death in plants, 214. | 

Prayrair, Dr. L. His formula for blood, 113. His analysis of 
feeces, of peas, of lentils, of beans, 285 ; of flesh and of blocd, 
314; of roasted flesh, 322. 

Potsons, VEGETABLE. Always contain nitrogen, 176 et seq. Dif- 
ferent kinds of poisons, 170. Theory of the action of Prussic 
acid and sulphuretted hydrogen, 274. 

Potymeric Bopizs, 103. 

Porasu. Essential to the production of caseine or milk, 164. 

Porators. Amount of carbon in, 287. They form part of the 
diet of soldiers in Germany, ib. Analysis of, 285; of starch 
from, 297; of solanine from the buds of germinating potatoes, 
323. 

Prevost anp Dumas. On the frequency of the pulse and respi- 
rations, 292. 

Propucts. Of the metamorphosis of tissues found in the bile 
and urine, 132. Of the action of muriatic acid on bile, 133. 
Of the action of potash on bile, 134. Of the action of water 
and oxygen on blood or fibre, 136. Of the oxidation of uric 
acid, 137. Of the oxidation of blood, 140. Of the action of 
water on proteine, 141. Of the action of urea on lactic and 
benzoic acids, 150. Of oxygen and uric acid on proteine, 151. 
Of oxygen on starch and hippuric acid, 152. Of oxygen and 
water on proteine and starch, 153. Of oxygen and water on 
proteine when soda is absent, 154. Of the separation of oxy- 
gen from starch, 157. Of the action of water on urea, 159. 
Of the action of water and oxygen on caffeine or theine, aspa- 
ragine, and theobromine, 180. 

Proterne. Discovered by Mulder, 105. Its composition, 7. 
Produced alone by vegetables, 106. Is the source of all the 
organic azotised constituents of the body, 107. Its formula, 
121. Its relation to fibrine, albumen, caseine, and all the 


INDEX. 351 


animal tissues, 126. Gelatine no longer yields it, although 
formed from it, 129. Its relation to bile and urine, 136. Its 
relation to allantoine and choloidic acid, 141; to gelatine, 142; 
to hippuric acid, 151; to the chief secretions and excretions, 
1524-153": to fat; 154. Analysis of proteine from the crys- 
talline lens, from albumen, from fibrine, from hair, from horn, 
from vegetable albumen and fibrine, from cheese, 308. 

Prout. His analysis of starch, 297 ; of grape sugar from honey, 
ib.; of sugar of milk, 298; of cane sugar, 300; of urea, 319. 
His discovery of free muriatic acid in the gastric juice, 112. 
On the effect of fat food on the urine, 139. 

Prussic Acip. See Acip, Hydrocyanic. 

Putmonary Disraszs. Arise from excess of oxygen, 23. Pre- 
vail in winter, 24. 

Puts. Its frequency in different animals, 292. 

Purreraction. Is a process of transformation, 109. Membranes 
very liable to it, 110. Effects of the putrefaction of green food 
in the stomach of animals, 115. Is analogous to digestion, 
119. Putrefying animal matters cause the fermentation of 
sugar, 120. Is checked by empyreumatics, 121, 170. 


Q. 


Quinine. Contains nitrogen, 177. Its analysis, 323. 


R. 


Reenavtt. His analysis of morphia, 324. 

Repropuction or Tissues. See Nurrirron. 

REPRODUCTION OF THE SPECIES, 39. 

Ruenisu Wines. Contain so much tartar, that their use pre- 
vents the formation of uric acid calculus, 139. 

Resprration. Theory of, 265 et seg. Its connection with the 
food and with the animal heat, 12 e¢ seq. 


S. 


Sait, Common. Essential to the formation of bile in the her- 
bivora, and to that of gastric juice, 161 ef seq. 

Saussure, Dre. His analysis of grape sugar and of starch sugar, 
297; of wax, 307. 

Scuerer, Dr. Jos. His analysis of albumen from serum of blood, 
293; of fibrine of blood, 7b.; of vegetable fibrine, 294; of ve- 
getable caseine, 295; of animal caseine, 7b.; of proteine from 


352 INDEX. 


different sources, 308; of albumen from white of egg, ib.; of 
albumen from different sources, 310; of fibrine, 311; of gela- 
tine from different sources, 7b.; of tissues containing chondrine, 
312; of the tunica media of arteries, 7b. ; of horny tissues, 7b.; 
of the lining membrane of the egg, 313; of feathers, ib.; of the 
pigmentum nigrum oculi, 74. Results of his researches, 125, 
126: 

SecreTions. See Bite and Urine. 

Secuin. His calculation of the amount of inspired oxygen, 283. 

Serpents. ‘Their excrements consist of urate of ammonia, 54. 
The process of digestion in them, 53. 

SueeP, Theory of, 228. Amount of sleep necessary for the 
adult, the infant, and the old man, 247 et seg. Induced by 
alcohol or wine, 240. 

Sopa. Essential to blood and bile, and derived from common 
salt, 161 et seq. 

Sopium, Chloride of. See Sar. 

SoLANINE. Contains nitrogen, 177. Its analysis, 323. 

Srarcu. Exists in the food of the herbivora, 70. Is convertible 
into sugar, 70, 71. Its relation to gum and sugar, 73. Its 
function in food, 74 et seg. Amount of carbon in starch com- 
pared with that in flesh, 76, 77. Its composition compared 
with that of fat, 84,90. Is the source of diabetic sugar, 95. 
Is an element of respiration, 96. Dissolved by diastase, 111. 
Its relation to choleic acid, 152. Its relation to the principal 
secretions and excretions, 153; to choloidic acid, 157; to bile, 
158, 162, 164, 166. Its analysis from fifteen different plants, 
eo. 

SrarvaTion. Process of, 25. Cause of death in, 27. 

Srrecker. His analysis of starch from 12 different plants, 297. 

Suear. Analysis of grape-sugar, 597; of sugar of milk, 298 ; 
of cane-sugar, 300. Is an element of respiration, 96. 

Sutpuur. Exists in albumen, fibrine, and caseine, 41, 126. 

SuLPHURETTED Hyprocgen. Theory of its poisonous action, 
274. 

Suxtpuuric Acip. See Acip, Sulphuric. 

Suppty of matter. See Nurririon. 

Suppty and Waste. Equilibrium between them constitutes the 
abstract state of health, 254, 255. Effects of its disturbance, 
2b. et seq. Means for restoring the equilibrium, 248, 257 et 
seq. 


INDEX. 353 


Tastes of the food consumed by soldiers in Germany, 289. Of 
the food and excretions of the horse and cow, 290, 291. 

Taurine. How produced from bile, 133. Its relation to cho- 
leic acid, 135. Its relation to uric acid and urea, and to allan- 
toine, 155; to uric acid 156; to alloxan, 7b. ; to choloidic and 
choleic acids, and ammonia, 158; to caffeine or theine, 180; 
to asparagine, 2b. ; to theobromine, 74., 181. 

TeMPERATURE. Its effects on the amount of inspired oxygen, 16, 
and on the appetite, 17 et seg. A slight depression of tem- 
perature causes death in aged people, 255. Temperature of 
the blood in different animals, 292. Temperature of the body 
constantly kept up by internal causes, 19—22. 

Trenvons. Analysis of, 311. 

Tuavtow. His analysis of cystic oxide, 320. 

Tuetne. Identical with caffeine, 179. And with guaranine, 
324. Theory of its action, 181 et seg. Its relation to bile, 
180. Its analysis, 324, 

THEeopromMine. Analogous totheine,179. Theory of its action, 
181 e¢ seg. Its relation to bile, 180, 181. Its analysis, 324. 

Turory. Of animal heat, 17 et seg. Of digestion, 108 et seq. 
Of respiration, 265 ef seg. Of the motions in the animal or- 
ganism, 195 et seg. Of disease, 254 et seg. Of the action of 
caffeine, &c., 181 et seg. Of the action of the vegetable alka- 
lies, 182 et seg. Of health, 254, 255. 

TIEDEMANN and Gme.in. Their attempt to support a goose upon 
albumen alone, unsuccessful, 106. 

Tissurs, Mertramorpuosis oF: see Mertramorrpnosis. Ana- 
lysis of the animal tissues, 310, 313. Formule of, 126. 

Toxsacco. Arrests or retards the change of matter, 179. 

TRANSFORMATION. See METAMORPHOSIS. 

Turnips. Juice of, contains vegetable fibrine and albumen, 45, 
46. 

U. 

Urea. Derived from uric acid, 1387, 140. Also from the oxi- 
dation of blood, 140; from allantoine, 141. Its relation to 
choleic acid, 148; to hippuric acid, 150; to proteine, 151 ; 
to proteine and starch, 153; to proteine and fat, 154; to 
taurine, 155, 156; to carbonate of ammonia, 159; to theobro- 
mine, 180. Its analysis, 319. Occurs in the urine of those 
who have taken benzoic acid along with hippuric acid, 327. 


yay’ 


354 INDEX. 


Urinary Caxtcuri. See Catcuuus. 
Uric Acip. See Acin, Uric. 


V. 


VaRRENTRAPP and Wit. Their analysis of vegetable albumen, 
294. Of sulphate of potash and caseine, 295. 

VeceraBLes. Alone produce compounds of proteine, 106. 
Azotised constituents of, nutritious, 45 ; medicinal or poison- 
ous, 176. Analysis of those vegetables which are used for 
food, 285 et seq. 

VecETATIVE Lire. Distinguished from nervous life, 38. Pre- 


dominates in the early stages of life, 7. Also in the female, 
39. 


Venous Buioop. See Bioop. 
Vira Force, or vitality. Definition of, 1 et seg. Theory of, 
195 et seq. 


VoceELt. His analysis of gas from the abdomen of cattle after 
excess in green food, 309. 


W. 


Water. Is one of the two constituents of the body which con- 
tain no nitrogen, 43. Its use as a solvent, ib. Contributes 
to the greater part of the transformations in the body, 136, 
140, 141, 142, 148, 153, 154, 155, 156, 157, 159, 180, 181. 

Wax. On its production from honey by the bee, 301—306. Its 
analysis, 307. 

WueatT. Contains vegetable fibrine, 46. Analysis of fibrine, 
albumen, and gluten, from wheat, 294. 

Witt and Erriine. Their analysis of lithofellic acid, 322. 

Wiye. The wines of the south promote the formation of calcu- 
lus, 139. But not Rhenish wines, 7+. Theory of its action, 
239, 240. 


WoskrRESENSKY. His analysis of theobromine, 324. 


ae 
Yams, Analysis of starch from, 297. 


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CHEWS THY 


IN ITS 


APPLICATIONS TO AGRICULTURE AND PHYSIOLOGY. 
BY JUSTUS LIEBIG, M.D., Pu. D., F.R.S., 


EDITED, FROM THE MANUSCRIPT OF THE AUTHOR, 
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“ Our readers, we trust, are by this time convinced that the principles of ra- 
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pursued, and has amply vindicated the claim of science to be considered the best 
guide, by correcting the erroneous views hitherto prevailing of the sources whence 
plants derive their nourishment, by developing the true causes of fertility in soils, 
and finally by establishing on a firm basis the true doctrine of manures.” 


From the Report of the Royal Agricultural Society of England, December 12th, 1840. 


“The Council observe with much satisfaction, that already men of the first 
scientific character have turned the power of their minds to the investigation of 
these interesting but recondite Jaws of nature, and the celebrated Professor Liebig, 
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Henry Gerorce Lippert, M.A., Student of College, Cambridge. 


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ANIMAL CHEMISTRY ; 


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