Proceedings of the late Dr Christie in India. 167 



ral physical constitution of the earth ; with an extensive and ac- 

 curate practical acquaintance with the present state of the most 

 important of the natural sciences, both in a general and economi- 

 cal view, viz. Geology and Mineralogy. And it will be very 

 desirable, indeed indispensable, that those entrusted with the 

 natural history surveys in India, should be able to collect with 

 judgment, and investigate with accuracy, the phenomena ex- 

 hibited by the animal and vegetable kingdoms. — Edit.] 



RESULTS OF EXPERIMENTS ON THE ECONOMICAL AND MEDI^ 

 CAL USES OF THE OXIDES AND SALTS OF CHROME. By 



Professor Jacobson of Copenhagen. Communicated to the 

 Editor. ' 



Professor Jacobson has laid before the Medical Society of 

 Copenhagen, the results of a series of experiments, relating to 

 the oxides and salts of chrome, originally made by him with a 

 view to physiology and therapeutics. 



Chrome, which was discovered about thirty-five years ago by 

 Vauquelin, has hitherto been employed solely in the preparation 

 of pigments and enamels, in the dyeing of stuffs, and printing 

 of calico. It is found at many places in Europe, in greater 

 quantity in Siberia, but most abundantly in North America. It 

 is, as is well known, susceptible of different degrees of oxida- 

 tion, and is therefore capable of entering into combination, both 

 HI the state of acid and oxide. 



Professor Jacobson has made the former of these the subject 

 of particular investigation, and has discovered qualities in one 

 of them, namely, the chromate of potash, which hitherto have 

 been unobserved, and which may be useful as well in the science 

 of medicine as in the arts. 



He has found, to-wit, that this salt, which neither is, nor from 

 its nature can be, inflammable, increases in a great degree the 

 combustibility of animal and vegetable bodies. If, for example, 

 hemp, flax, cotton, linen, or paper, be saturated with a solution 

 of this salt, and suff^ered to dry, there is produced, whenever 

 any part of it is ignited, an active, steady, and continued com- 

 bustion, without flame, which spreads on every side, and con- 

 sumes all that portion of the substance that has been saturated. 



