CHEMICAL SCIENCE. 217 



ed the formula, exactly, for margaric acid. This discovery, which 

 places stearic and margaric acids in the same relation with tartaric 

 and racemic (metatartaric) acids, generally simplifies the whole of a 

 hitherto intricate subject, and, above all, does away with the difference 

 between the fat of man and the pig and that of other animals, a 

 result highly important in physiology. Comptes Rendus, March. 



CURIOUS EFFECTS OF GLONOINE. 



THIS body was discovered about two years since by M. Sobrero, 

 and is formed by the action of nitro-sulphuric acid upon glycerine. 

 It is a heavy yellow oil, insoluble in water, inodorous, but sweet, 

 pungent, and aromatic to the taste. The physiological action of this 

 substance is most extraordinary ; the following have been the re- 

 sults of a series of experiments upon man and the lower animals, 

 performed by Dr. Hering, with some other medical gentlemen of 

 Philadelphia. When taken in small doses the effect is an almost im- 

 mediate acceleration of the pulse, with giddiness and the sense of ful- 

 ness and pressure in the frontal region, followed by severe head- 

 ache, which is often confined to the coronal region, sometimes to one 

 side of the head, and attended with twitchings of the muscles of the 

 face, and sometimes a difficulty in articulation. The pain is greatly 

 aggravated by motion, and, on shaking the head, is almost intoler- 

 able. These symptoms subside spontaneously in a short time, and 

 are often succeeded by a diminished pulse and a feeling of soreness 

 about the head. The most extraordinary feature connected with these 

 observations is the very minute quantity required to produce the effect 

 described. In the experiment of Dr. Hering, one drop of the glo- 

 noine was placed in a bottle, to which 5000 globules of milk-sugar 

 were added, and, by agitating, the whole was impregnated. The 

 number of these globules required to produce the symptoms above de- 

 scribed is from 5 to 20, 50, and in some individuals 200. The ma- 

 jority of persons experience the symptoms in a marked degree, after 

 having taken 20 = 2 ^th of a grain, and many susceptible subjects are 

 painfully affected by 5 = ^th of a grain. The lower animals are less 

 sensible to its action ; ten drops were required to destroy a frog ; four 

 drops given to a cat produced convulsions, but the animal recovered ; 

 another cat was killed by three drops. The strongest dose taken by 

 a man has been one tenth of a drop. Common coffee is found to be 

 an antidote to the unpleasant effects of an overdose. A substance of 

 such unexampled potency in its action upon the human system, can 

 scarcely be without its use in the treatment of disease; we understand 

 that a careful examination is now making of it, with a view to its 

 practical application and use. Condensed from Sillimarfs Journal. 



OZONE. 



SOME observations and experiments on ozone have been published 

 by Williamson, an early investigator on this interesting subject. He 

 critically examines the view adopted by Schonbein, the discoverer, 



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