CHEMICAL SCIENCE. 261 



great object to which the operator should aim." Electricity also mani- 

 fests its power in the partial paralysis resulting from the administra- 

 tion of chloroform. All the phenomena of paraphlezia instantly dis- 

 appear, under the influence of one electric shock. M. Lamballe can- 

 not decide whether the effect of electricity is to maintain the vitality 

 of the animal, and allow the chloroform to exhaust its toxical influ- 

 ence, or, by directly neutralizing the chloroform ; but it appears to 

 him that its effects are to increase the nervous influence, and conse- 

 quently to maintain the muscular action and the vitality, until the 

 complete disappearance of the chloroform, either by evaporation by 

 the mucous surfaces, (and especially the lungs) or escaping by the 

 secretions. 



In the application of electricity by contact, M. Jobert de Lamballe 

 chose, particularly for the application of the two poles, the point where 

 the mucous surfaces were united to the teguments the two opposite 

 extremities of the body. He made the experiment with M. Boulogne's 

 apparatus, by carrying the exciters upon the buccal and rectal extrem- 

 ities of the mucous surfaces. At the moment of contact, muscular 

 contractions took place on all the points of the body, which seemed to 

 gather itself up (se pelotonner) when the current became very strong. 

 He says he has also used the electro-puncture, one of whose remarka- 

 ble properties is that its effects are not prolonged beyond the experi- 

 ment, and cease, so to say, at the will of the operator ; under its ener- 

 getic and violent influence motion and sensibility soon reappear. The 

 rapid contractions it causes accelerate the respiration and the beatings 

 of the heart, and at the same time excite sharp and plaintive cries 

 from the animal on whom the experiment is made. The operation 

 was made in two different manners: either by plunging two metallic 

 needles, one in the neck and the other in the inferior extremity of the 



/ 



trunk, so as to comprehend all the length of the spinal marrow between 

 the poles ; or, by plunging one of the needles in the nape of the neck, 

 and the other in the muscles of the breast. To repeat in a word M. 

 Lamballe's opinion : electricity, notwithstanding its energy, cannot 

 revive the contractions of the heart when they have altogether ceased 

 to exist ; but when the circulation is not yet completely stopped, where 

 there exists some vitality in the animal, electricity applied upon the 

 buccal and rectal mucous surfaces suffices to revive the organs, and 

 recall the functions of the organism. 



GUILLOUET'S PROCESS FOR IMPARTING LIVELINESS TO IXDIGO 



BLUE. 



This discovery consists in exposing the stuffs colored with indigo to 

 the pressure of steam at an elevated temperature. 



The blue coloring matter of the indigo is insoluble, and in order to 

 fix it upon the stuffs, it is necessary to deoxidize it with green vitriol 

 and lime. By dipping the stuffs into a solution of deoxidized indigo 

 a darker or lighter color is obtained according to the length of the 

 immersion. 



