190 ANNUAL OP SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 



anate of baryta, and this salt, by double decomposition with sulphate 

 of morphia, was resolved into sulphate of baryta, which fell as an 

 insoluble powder, and valerianate of morphia, which, after filtration 

 and concentration, crystallized in beautiful forms of great trans- 

 parency. 



" The effects of this new medicine are as follows : In small doses 

 it is found to produce more quiet sleep, and to be equally efficacious 

 in removing pain with its equivalent in crude opium, or the salts of 

 morphia. In a case of violent nervous excitement it acted most favor- 

 ably, producing quiet and sleep after other preparations had fuileo 1 . 

 It has been given in a few cases in which, from constitutional pecu- 

 liarity, a feverish state ensues, with watchfulness and starting instead 

 of sleep, or quiet reverie. In these the sleep was not continuous, but 

 the intervals of wakefulness were shorter, and the general frame of 

 mind more calm. The subsequent effects, headache, nausea, and 

 vomiting, were decidedly less than after an equivalent of the other 

 preparations. In full doses, also, the subsequent effects are less. In 

 dysentery this has been observed in a marked degree. The doses 

 were from one third to half a grain, repeated from eight to ten times 

 in twenty-four hours. The secretions were lessened, the evacuations 

 controlled, and the pain removed, with less headache, nausea, and 

 vomiting. The dose is about one fourth that of crude opium ; it is 

 most conveniently given in the form of a pill." 



The valerianate of morphia has now come into general use, both 

 in this country and in Europe. In England its discovery has been 

 claimed as having originated there. 



ON BENZOLE AND ITS USES. 



THIS body, which may be procured to any extent by the distillation 

 of coal-tar, or light naphtha, promises to be of so great utility in the 

 arts as to encourage a belief that it will soon form a special object 

 of manufacture and commerce. It is a limpid, colorless liquid, of an 

 agreeable ethereal odor. It dissolves many substances with extreme 

 readiness and in large quantities, such as the various resins, mastic, 

 camphor, wax, putty, and essential oils, caoutchouc, and gutta-percha. 

 Its volatility gives to its solution of either of the two latter substances 

 the useful property of drying rapidly and perfectly ; so that, when 

 spread upon glass or any polished surface, a film of the gum is de- 

 posited, which may be readily peeled off in the form of a tough mem- 

 brane of any required degree of tenuity, and possessing all the prop- 

 erties of the original material. The same solutions, varnished on 

 the skin, form admirable artificial cuticles, which have been found 

 useful in cures of wounds and burns, and might probably be very 

 beneficial in some skin diseases. It dissolves gamboge in small 

 quantity, and shell-lac even more sparingly ; but it will mix in equal 

 bulks with a saturated solution of lac in wood spirit or alcohol. This 

 property may be valuable to varnish-makers. Copal and anime yield 

 but slightly to the solvent power of this fluid; but its vapor in the 

 act of condensation rapidly dissolves these resins; so that, if frag- 



