'1-3^ Intelligence and Miscellaneous Articles. 



as chloride of sodium, chloride of calcium and hydrochlorate of am- 

 monia, dissolves in the chloride of copper, even when the latter is 

 added by drops. Nevertheless in this case, the vibrations occasioned 

 by the formation and precipitation of oxalate of copper should be as 

 much as possible avoided, when it ceases to dissolve in the excess of 

 the salt of copper ; this precipitate is, however, formed after a certain 

 time. 



When excess of oxalate of ammonia is poured into chloride of 

 calcium, and a salt of copper is afterwards added, no solution takes 

 place. A precipitate of oxalate of copper is obtained, and a soluble 

 salt of lime remains in the liquor ; but if this experiment be made in 

 presence of an excess of hydrochlorate of ammonia, the oxalate of 

 copper does not immediately precipitate, and the solution remains 

 clear for some time. 



Oxalate of lime, boiled with soluble salts of silver, lead, cadmium, 

 zinc, nickel, cobalt, strontia and barytes, undergoes double decom- 

 position ; so that a soluble salt of lime remains in solution, and the 

 oxalates of these metals are precipitated. 



Thus oxalate of lime is decomposed by all the soluble salts of 

 metals capable of forming insoluble oxalates and soluble salts of lime. 

 The decomposition takes place more readily, as the equivalent of the 

 metal which replaces the lime is higher. 



The author proposes to extend this inquiry to all the oxalates, 

 and to examine in a more general point of view the action of soluble 

 upon insoluble salts. — Comptes Rendus, Novembre 12, 1849. 



ON THE PRESENCE OF HIPPURIC ACID IN THE BLOOD. 

 BY MM. F. VERDEIL AND CH. DOLFUSS. 



The authors state in a note to the Academy, that they have dis- 

 covered hippuric acid in the blood of the ox. The blood upon which 

 their experiments were performed was obtained by themselves at the 

 slaughter-house ; the experiments were repeated on the blood of 

 many oxen, and hippuric acid was always found to be present. It 

 was perfectly isolated from the blood, and its properties carefully 

 studied. Not having obtained enough of the substance to submit it 

 to an elementary analysis, they satisfied themselves that this sub- 

 stance was similar to the hippuric acid found in the urine of herbi- 

 vorous animals, by the form of the crystals, as shown by the mi- 

 croscope, their insolubility in cold, and their solubility in hot 

 water, alcohol and aether : this substance fuses by heat, exhaling the 

 characteristic odour of benzoin. The process which the authors 

 employed to separate this substance being connected with their 

 general method employed in the analysis of blood, they propose to 

 describe it when their researches are completed. — Comptes Rendus, 

 Decembre 24, 1849. 



GEOLOGICAL PRIZES. 



The Geological Society of Dublin have offered three prizes, each 

 of the value of Five Pounds in Books, to be awarded for the three 



