292 Mr. George's Chemical 'Examination of some of the 



of the retort, and was condensed into a fatty substance, which 

 increased and became more solid as the distillation advanced; 

 at the same time a pungent and disagreeable vapour passed 

 over, having very much the odour of candle-snuff". At the close 

 of the experiment, a bright charcoal remained in the retort. 



7. — A portion of muscle was digested in boiling spirit of 

 turpentine: the solution, which was deep coloured, being eva- 

 porated to dryness, left a substance similar to that separated 

 by alcohol. 



8. — In order to determine whether the substance separated 

 by alcohol and essential oil of turpentine was formed by their 

 action upon the animal matter, a portion of muscle was di- 

 gested one hour in boiling water ; the surface of the water was 

 covered by an oily substance, which, on cooling, became solid, 

 and resembled in all its properties that separated 1 . 2. and 7. 

 The aqueous solution contained a considerable quantity of ge- 

 latine. 



9. — A piece of thick muscle covered with skin was digested 

 four days in cold alcohol (sp. gr. 835), the solution acquired a 

 dark-brown colour ; by spontaneous evaporation, a white sub- 

 stance in plates was deposited. The solution, when reduced 

 to one-fourth of its original bulk, was filtered, and the solid 

 part dried upon the filter : it had precisely the same properties 

 as the substance obtained by the action of boiling alcohol, ex- 

 cept being of a much lighter colour. Upon evaporating the 

 solution which passed through the filter to dryness, a very small 

 quantity of a body heavier than water, insoluble in that liquid, 

 and which possessed all the characters of resin, remained. 



IV. — A small fragment of the visceral substance, supposed 

 to be the liver, was examined. It was covered with a thin 

 coating of saline efflorescence, mixed with earth. The salts 

 proved to be the same as those before examined, — the carbo- 

 nate, muriate, and sulphate of soda; tests were carefully ap- 

 plied to detect, if present, the nitrate of potash, but without 

 discovering any trace of that salt. The earthy substance ef- 

 fervesced wich acids. 



The liver was next repeatedly digested in alcohol and water. 

 Gelatine was the only substance separated by these solvents — 

 the aqueous solution contained a large quantity. I found in 

 the course of this set of experiments, that although gelatine is 

 insoluble in pure alcohol, yet the rectified spirit of wine (sp. 

 gr. 835) dissolves it. 



V. — The drops of a resinous substance from the cavity of 

 the head, were found to be pure resin, having a very fine 

 odour, which was not acertained to resemble that of any known 

 resin. 



In 



