of the Electrical Apparatus of the Torpedo, 257 



104' of dried product; in a second experiment, from 1307 

 I obtained 136 dried parts. The mean quantity of water 

 thus amounts to 903*4 parts in 1000 of the substance of the 

 organ. The analysis of the dried product was made by treat- 

 ing it with alcohol at siQ° and renewing this solution three 

 times at intervals of twenty-four hours. The residue was 

 then subjected to the same alcohol, but in a boiling state ; 

 this process was repeated twice. The remaining residue was 

 then treated with boiling water and afterwards with concen- 

 trated acetic acid. The result is as follows : Q'Q5 grs. of the 

 dried product gave 



3-171 grs. substance dissolved in cold alcohol (A.) 



0*893 in boiling water (B.) 



2*587 substances insoluble in alcohol (C.) 



The products A and B are composed of muriate of soda, of 

 lactate of potash, of lactic acid, of Berzelius's extract of flesh, 

 of phocenine, of a fatty substance analogous to the elaine of the 

 brain, and lastly, of a fatty substance solid at common tem- 

 perature. The product C is formed almost entirely of albu- 

 men and some traces of gelatine. 



When the solution obtained with cold alcohol is evaporated 

 several crystalline layers are at first formed, subsequently some 

 drops of a yellow oil ; these sink to the bottom of the liquid. 

 This liquid is very acid, and forms a precipitate with tinc- 

 ture of galls. On evaporating the whole of the solution there 

 remains a yellowish-green mass, oily, very acid, and deliques- 

 cent. It dissolves almost entirely in water, forming a kind of 

 emulsion. It disengages an odour of oil of rank fish. Potash 

 dissolves the fatty substance, destroys the odour, and neutralizes 

 the liquid ; if tartaric acid be added the fatty acid is again form- 

 ed, and gives by evaporation and distillation lactic acid and 

 phocenic acid. The product of boiling alcohol also gives 

 lactic acid and a solid fatty substance, which treated with nitric 

 acid gives traces of sulphur and phosphorus. The sub- 

 stance insoluble in alcohol, boiled in distilled water, gives a 

 dirty white solution, which becomes rather opake by the bi- 

 chloride of mercury; tincture of galls produces a flocculent 

 precipitate, which is partly dissolved on heating the liquid. 

 Lastly, the residue is soluble, especially in the hot process, in 

 acids, and in acid alkaline solutions. It is nothing but pure 

 albumen*. 



The albuminous substance which surrounds the brain dif- 



* When the dried substance of the organ is treated three times with 

 cold aether, and the solution evaporated, a green fotty matter of a pearly 

 appearance is obtained, which dissolves sparingly in aether and cold alcohol; 



Phil. Mag. S. 3. Vol. 12. No. 74. March 1838. 2 D 



