THE 



LONDON, EDINBURGH and DUBLIN 



PHILOSOPHICAL MAGAZINE 



AND 



JOURNAL OF SCIENCE. 



[THIRD SERIES.] 



JULY 1849. 



I. 0)1 the Ijio7'gafiic Constituetits of Organic Bodies, By 

 H . Rose, Professor of Chemistry in the University of Berlin ^. 



THE inorganic constituents of vegetable and animal sub- 

 stances have received more attention during the last few 

 years than was formerly the case ; and in consequence of 

 Liebig's exertions especially, numerous investigations of the 

 ashes of organic substances have been made; but their prin- 

 cipal object was only technical. It was soon perceived, that 

 as plants derive the inorganic constituents, without which 

 they cannot exist, from the soil, it was of the greatest import- 

 ance to determine these constituents with accuracy, so as to 

 be enabled to judge whether the soil was capable of yielding 

 them ; and if not so, to allow of their being added in the form 

 of a suitable manure. 



Hitherto almost all these investigations have been directed 

 to the determination of the relative proportions of the inorganic 

 constituents of the ash. Occasionally, indeed, the presence 

 of certain inorganic constituents, especially salts, has been • 

 detected by microscopic examinations; but scarcely any one 

 has expressly taken up the question which is somewhat closely 

 connected with this point, viz. in what manner are the inor- 

 ganic substances combined with the organic? Whether they 

 form with each other the same kinds of combinations as those 

 which are artificially prepared in our laboratories, or whether 

 peculiar compounds, existing only in living organic bodies, 

 are formed by the mutual influence of the inorganic upon the 

 organic matters, are questions which must be of great import- 

 ance, especially in animal and vegetable physiology, and which 

 have not hitherto been accurately investigated. 



In very few instances only have researches of this kind 

 been attempted. Endeavours have been made, for instance, 

 * From Poggendorff's Annalen, vol. Ixxvi. p. 305. 



Phil. Mag, S. 3. Vol. 35. No. 233. July 1849. B 



