CHEMICAL SCIENCE. 277 



dog, though suffering frightfully, was not dead. Dr. Bewley resolved to put 

 him out of his misery at once, and accordingly mixed half a drachm of 

 prussic acid with a little milk, and put it under the dog's snout. He lapped 

 the milk with avidity, and in less than a minute vomited, got upon his legs, 

 ran away, and recovered. It must be observed that Mr. Haughton's pro- 

 posal involves the principle of employing a physiological antidote to neu- 

 tralize the poisoning, instead of merely rendering the poison inert by chemi- 

 cal means, which is the plan that has hitherto been universally adopted. - 

 London Lancet. 



OX " MARSH'S " TEST FOR ARSENIC. 



At the Aberdeen meeting of the British Association, Dr. Odling read a, 

 paper, the object of which was to show that Marsh's test for the detection of 

 arsenic was not reliable to the extent generally supposed. He stated that 

 numerous and varied bodies, including the organic substance contained in 

 ordinary earth, vegetable tissue, animal tissue, salts of copper, and ordinary 

 salts, prevented the formation of arseniatcd hydrogen, and thereby defeated 

 the action desired. As a mode of separating the arsenic from these interfer- 

 ing substances, the author recommended the process of distillation with 

 muriatic acid, whereby arsenic in the form of chloride of arsenic is isolated 

 in a form suitable for testing. 



PECULIAR EFFECTS OF PHOSPHORUS. 



At a session of the Cercle de la Presse Scientifique, in Paris, the Abbe 

 Moigno directed attention to two facts, novel, and fit to figure in the pathog- 

 enesia of a poison, already charged with so many mischievous properties. 

 Females, being enceinte, breathing air filled with phosphoric emanations in 

 the establishments where matches are made, arc sure to abort; and this 

 result is so common and well known, that, in localities where the manufac- 

 ture of matches engages a large number of workmen, the women profit by 

 it to rid themselves of the product of conception. The abbe made this 

 statement on the authority of a pious ecclesiastic, who guaranteed its authen- 

 ticity. In men submitted to the same conditions, phosphorus vapors induce, 

 after a little while, a vehement excitation of the generative functions, 

 Journal de Chemi. Medicate. 



METAMORPHISM OF ROCKS. 



Deville impregnated a piece of chalk with chloride of magnesium, and 

 then heated it for a long time in a platinum crucible in a sand-bath. By a 

 temperature of about 100 C., six to seven per cent, of lime were replaced 

 by magnesia. Washing, and repeating this eight times, the ratio of mag- 

 nesia to the lime was 1 :2, or nearly that of a true dolomite (which is 1 : II). 



In this reaction, however, some carbonic acid was given off, and oxy- 

 chloride formed. But, on exposing the piece in water to the atmosphere, a 

 little pure carbonate of lime formed, and separated with the chloride, and left 

 a neutral dolomite. It was an unexpected result to find the carbonic acid of 

 the atmosphere promoting this result, while a saturated solution of carbonic 

 acid leads to the formation of bicarbonates. 



Deville impregnated a sandstone which contained no lime with a mixed, 



24 



