532 Dr. Golding Bird on Enderlin's licscarches on Ike 



the Asiatic Society. I have little doubt of the longer and 

 thinner cylindrical bodies being stems of grasses. They are 

 seen in the rock fossilized in clusters upright as they grew, 

 with freshwater shells half-entangled about their roots. 



LXXV. On certain Fallacies in Enderlin's Researches on the 

 Constitution of the saline itigredienfs of Animal Fluids. By 

 GoLDiNG Bird, A.M., M.D., F.L.S., Lecturer on Materia 

 Medica at, and Assistaiit- Physician to, Guy's Hospital. In 

 a Letter to Richard Phillips, Esq., F.R.S. 



My dkar Sir, 



THE opinion lately announced by Prof. Liebig, regarding 

 the non-existence of salts of organic acids in the urine 

 and other animal secretions, has, as you are aware, appeared 

 to receive full confirmation from the researches of Enderlin, 

 who, in a long communication (Liebig and Wohler's An- 

 nalen, 1844, 3 and 4, and Heller's ^rc/«y, 1844, s. 144) on the 

 chemical constitution of the incombustible residue of the 

 blood and other fluids, has stated that in no instance, except 

 in the case of bile, is an alkahne carbonate to be detected in 

 the ashes left after the incineration of the extract of the fluid 

 under examination. 



This remark, on a. prima facie view, appears most conclu- 

 sive as to the accuracy of Prof. Liebig's statement; for if an 

 alkaline acetate, lactate, or any other salt of an organic acid 

 existed in a secretion, we should of course expect to find it in 

 the residue of incineration in the state of carbonate. The 

 almost constant alkaline reaction of the ashes of blood and 

 other fluids is of course readily explained by the existence of 

 the sub-tribasic phosphate of soda (SNaO + PgOg), which 

 constitutes an important ingredient in the residue of combus- 

 tion, the absence of a carbonate in the alkaline ash being de- 

 monstrated by effervescence not being excited on the addition 

 of a mineral acid. 



On repeating the experiments of Enderlin with every pre- 

 caution to avoid error, I obtained precisely similar results in 

 the case of serum of blood and mucous secretions. The urine 

 however, in most instances, afforded an ash which not only was 

 alkaline, like that obtained from serum, but effervesced with 

 acids and consequently contained alkaline carbonates. 



Admitting, then, the correctness of the statement made by 

 Enderlin, that the alkalinity of the ashes of blood, saliva, &c. 

 is owing to a tribasic phosphate of soda, and not to an alka- 

 line carbonate, it may be asked, is the induction drawn by 

 this chemist from these facts equally correct? From the ah- 



