Intelligence and Miscellaneous Articles. 155 



raation is effected without either gain or loss of elements, and solely 

 by a simple change in the relation or the position of the elementary 

 atoms of the salt, so that the subphosphate of lime, the original com- 

 position of which is 8CaO, 3 P- O, is divided into two more per- 

 manent compounds, neutral phosphate and subsesquiphosphate, the 

 production of which is explained by the following equation : 

 8CaO, 3 P-' O 5 = (2CaO, P 2 O 5 ) + 2 (3CaO, P* s ). 



It is very probable that it is the tendency of the subsesquiphos- 

 phate of lime to crystallize which occasions its formation. Many 

 facts prove the mobility of the elements of phosphate of lime, and 

 the property which it possesses of undergoing slight changes in its 

 constitution ; without these two circumstances, it could not, as 

 observed by Berzelius, perform the functions which render it so im- 

 portant in the animal and vegetable ceconomy. The crystals which 

 form on the surface of burnt bones are identical with the apatite of 

 mineralogists. 



The authors were unable to detect the slightest trace of fluoride 

 of calcium in ancient human bones, whereas they always met with 

 it in fossil animal bones ; the existence of this salt in recent human 

 and animal bones is more than doubtful. MM. Berzelius and Mori- 

 chini are the only chemists who have stated its existence in recent 

 bones. Fourcroy and Vauquelin, Klaproth, Dr. Rees, and the au- 

 thors of this paper, were not able to detect it in fresh bones. 



It follows from these introductory statements, that at any rate the 

 presence of fluoride of calcium, even if it ever exist in recent bones, 

 is accidental, and not constant, and that as this salt exists in all fos- 

 sil bones, it must necessarily have arisen by infiltration from without, 

 for neither mineralization nor fossilization has the power of creating 

 mineral substances. 



When, therefore, fluoride of calcium is found in notable quantity 

 in any unknown bone, it may be considered as a fossil bone of an an- 

 tidiluvial animal, and not as a human bone. — Ann.de Ch.et de Phys., 

 Novembre 1843. 



ON APIIN. BY MONS. H. BRACONNOT. 



This substance was discovered by M. Braconnot in attempting to 

 procure from parsley a volatile oil, or a distilled water, which might 

 be substituted for the fresh herb when out of season. 



It is obtained abundantly and with the greatest facility by boiling 

 a sufficient quantity of the herb in water ; the boiling liquor strained 

 through linen, becomes on cooling a gelatinous mass, which resem- 

 bles pectic acid in appearance, and requires to be washed merely with 

 cold water. 



The properties of apiin thus obtained are, that it is inodorous, in- 

 sipid and neutral ; by exposure to the air it dries without undergoing 

 any alteration ; after being pressed, dried, and reduced to powder, it 

 is of a yellowish-white colour. When heated it fuses, swells, and 

 blackens, but does not become more soluble in cold water ; if, after 

 thus acted on by heat, it is treated with boiling water, the portion 



