Intelligence and Miscellaneous Articles. 491 



To 3080 grains of blood there were added 5*14 grains of [sul- 

 phate of ?] brucia ; this mixture was exposed to the air from the 

 2nd of June to the 3rd of August ; at this period the blood was pu- 

 trefying and fetid. It was evaporated to dryness ; the residue was 

 treated with boiling alcohol ; the solution obtained was filtered and 

 evaporated to dryness, and treated with water acidulated with ace- 

 tic acid. The solution thus procured was filtered and evaporated 

 to a syrupy consistence. In this state it was reddened by nitric acid, 

 and become of a violet tint by the successive application of nitric 

 acid and protochloride of tin. 



Mixtures of the following substances were made on the 2nd of 

 June : — 7700 grains of distilled water, 154 grains of yeast, and 462 

 grains of sugar. To four such mixtures were separately added 5*14 

 grains of sulphate of brucia, 5 - 14 grains of sulphate of strychnia, 

 and 5*14 grains of acetate of morphia. These mixtures soon began 

 to ferment, and when after standing several days the evolution of 

 carbonic acid had ceased, they were evaporated to dryness, then 

 treated with boiling alcohol, and after evaporating the spirit, the 

 residue was treated with water acidulated with acetic acid, and in 

 this liquor, evaporated to a syrupy consistence, the characteristics of 

 the alkali introduced before fermentation were determinable. 



Some red wine holding hydrochlorate of morphia in solution had 

 been kept in a bottle loosely corked from July 1841 to the 15 th of 

 June 1842 ; the liquid exhaled a strong odour of acetic acid ; after 

 treating in the manner above described, and decolorized by animal 

 charcoal, it did not yield crystals, but by evaporation to a syrupy 

 consistence it gave a residue which was reddened by nitric acid, ren- 

 dered blue by perchloride of iron, was precipitated by tannin, and 

 reduced the chloride of gold. — Ibid. 



PREPARATION AND COMPOSITION OF PEPSIN. 



In order to prepare pepsin in quantity, M. Vogel, jun. employed 

 the following process : — The glandular skin of the fresh stomach of 

 the hog was separated from the serous part, and after having cut 

 it into small pieces it was treated with cold distilled water ; after 

 twenty-four hours' immersion, the water was poured off and fresh 

 portions added. This operation was repeated dujring several days, 

 until a putrid odour was perceptible. The aqueous infusion thus 

 obtained was precipitated by acetate of lead, the white ftocculent 

 precipitate formed containing the pepsin mixed with much albu- 

 men; this precipitate being diffused through water, it was decomposed 

 by hydrosulphuric acid gas. When the liquor is filtered, the solu- 

 tion contains pepsin and sulphuric acid, while coagulated albumen 

 and sulphuret of lead remain on the filter. A very small quantity 

 of hydrochloric acid, added to the solution'of pepsin and acetic acid, 

 is sufficient to render it capable of artificial digestion. 



In order to procure solid pepsin, the filtered liquor must be eva- 

 porated to a syrupy consistence, carefully avoiding ebullition, and 

 afterwards adding absolute alcohol to it. After some time a whitish 



