CHEMICAL SCIENCE. 251 



nclministercd to invalids, with what effect is not stated. M. Boussingault 

 says that in a trench of an old sulphur-mine in New Granada he was almost 

 suffocated and thrown into a violent perspiration by this gas, the heat of 

 which he believed, at the time, to be equal to forty degrees ; but his ther- 

 mometer, after being left an hour in the trench, only marked nineteen 

 degrees, three degrees, in fact, less than the temperature of the surface in 

 the shade. The professor also felt a pricking sensation in the eyes from the 

 effect of the gas, and he was assured by the miners that they almost all 

 suffered from weakness and blindness. 



ANTIDOTE FOR PHOSPHORUS. 



Poisoning by phosphorus is becoming common from the facility of procur- 

 ing friction matches. It is, therefore, important that the antidote which has 

 of late been found the most effacious should be extensively known. 



Messrs. Antonielli and Barsorelli have shown by numerous experiments 

 on animals : 



1st. That fatty matters should not be employed in poisoning by phos- 

 phorus, as these matters, far from preventing its action on the viscera, on 

 the contrary increase its energy, and facilitate its diffusion through the 

 economy. 2d. That calcined magnesia, suspended in boiled water, and 

 administered largely, is the best antidote, and, at the same time, the most 

 appropriate purgative to facilitate the elimination of the toxic agent. 3d. 

 That the acetate of potash is extremely useful when there is dysuria in 

 poisoning with phosphorus. 4th. That the mucilaginous drinks which are 

 given to the patient should always be prepared with boiled water, so that 

 those beverages may contain as little air as possible. 



LIEBIG'S ARTIFICIAL TARTARIC ACID. 



The identity of the tartaric acid prepared artificially, i. e., not from its 

 compounds, but out of its components, by Professor Liebig, has been further 

 confirmed by the optical relations of the acid as regards the polarization of 

 light. 



This discovery is likely to throw considerable light upon certain processes 

 or the relations of certain products of vegetable life. Thus we see that unripe 

 grapes contain tartaric acid, which gradually disappears, and in its place we 

 find the mature grape to contain sugar, a carbo-hydrate; and since tartaric 

 acid is now prepared from carbo-hydrates, it may be presumed with great 

 probability that by the reverse procedure the plant converts the acid into 

 sugar. Liebig considers tartaric acid in its primary composition to be oxalic 

 acid partly converted into a carbo-hydrate or paired with a carbo-hydrate. 

 There are undoubtedly similar relations between malic and citric add, and the 

 antinitrogenous substances, as starch, pectin, etc., occurring simultaneously 

 with these acids in the various fruits. The most recent experiments insti- 

 tuted in Liebig's laboratory have brought to light the very surprising fact 

 that malic acid is made to yield aldehyde by a simple process of oxidation, 

 viz., heating with black oxide of manganese, and that citric acid will yield 

 acetone under the same circumstances. These results confirm Liebig's theory 

 of the constitution of tartaric acid; for the elementary constitution of malic 

 aci'l is that of oxalic acid combined with aldehyde, and that of jiyro-citric or 



