CHEMICAL SCIENCE. 215 



EXISTENCE OP ARSENIC IN PLANTS. 



M. STEIX has estimated the small quantities of arsenic contained in 

 various vegetable substances. He has made the following determina- 

 tions : 10,000 parts of old linen gave 0.11 of ausenic ; 10,000 parts 

 of rye straw, gathered in the vicinity of lead smelting works, contained 

 0.009 of arsenic, and 0.4 of metallic lead ; 10,000 parts of cow-dung 

 yielded 3,000 of arsenic. The arsenic was sought for in the ashes of 

 these substances. Jour. Pract. Chemie. 



ON THE PRESENCE OF MINERAL POISONS IN THE NERVOUS SYSTEM 

 AFTER DEATH BY ACUTE POISONING. 



DR. ROUGHER, of Strasbourg, has undertaken a series of experiments, 

 by administering arsenic, lead, copper, and mercury to dogs, with a 

 view of ascertaining if these poisons can, in reality, be detected in the 

 cerebrum and spinal cord. 



Arsenic was twice found in the substance of the brain ; mercury was 

 found in each instance of three experiments of poisoning by mercury. 

 Copper was found in five instances out of six of poisoning by the sul- 

 phate. In three cases the proportion of the oxide varied from three to 

 six thousandths. The brain of dogs, not poisoned, yielded scarcely an 

 appreciable quantity. Lead was extracted, in the proportion of eigh- 

 teen thousandths, from the brain of a dog, which died, at the end of 

 three days, from acetate of lead. These facts induce the author to 

 think that mineral as well as organic poisons exert a direct influence 

 upon the nervous centres. Comptes Rcndus. 



PRESENCE OF LEAD IN THE BRAIN AND LIVER. 



M. CHATIN and Bouvier, of France, being desirous of arriving at an 

 opinion on this still controverted point of medical science, have insti- 

 tuted minute examinations of the brain and liver of a man, who had 

 died by means of lead poisoning, from working in a white-lead factory. 

 From these experiments it resulted that the brain, and especially the 

 liver, contained lead. The process followed in the examination was 

 that recommended by Orfila for detecting lead in cases of poisoning, to 

 the exclusion of normal lead. Jour, de Chemie, Feb. 



ACTION OF WATER ON LEAD. 



MR. NOAD, of London, in a recent communication to the Patent 

 Journal, furnishes an instance in which a water, containing a large 

 quantity of those salts which are generally supposed to exert a preserv- 

 ative action on lead, (earthy and alkaline sulphates and chlorides,) 

 corroded a leaden cistern with remarkable energy. In the course of 

 six months, holes were eaten through it, and the oxide of lead could be 

 skimmed from the surface of the water in abundance. On testing the 

 water beneath, taking care to avoid filtering, by which a very consid- 

 erable quantity of the metal, even when in solution, may be removed, 



