1 64- Intelligence and Miscellaneous Articles. 



H 23 N 2 O 7 HO)HO PO\ A double phosphate of brucia and soda was 

 also formed, but could not be obtained perfectly pure. 



Phosphate of Quinine, with three equivalents of quinine. — By digesting 

 quinine with phosphoric acid, a solution of this salt is obtained which 

 becomes a solid mass of silky needles on cooling. They are ex- 

 tremely soluble in hot water, and are quite neutral to test-paper. 

 They gave by analysis a result corresponding with 3(C 20 H 12 NO 2 

 HO)P0 5 . These results the author considered sufficient to establish 

 the fact, that the phosphates of the organic alkalies agree in their 

 constitution with the inorganic salts of that acid ; and he concluded 

 his paper by observing, that the relation of these bases to phosphoric 

 acid might be made use of as a means of classifying them. Thus 

 quinine, which replaces tbree equivalents of water in phosphoric acid, 

 might be compared to oxide of lead and the oxides of the heavy 

 metals ; brucia might represent the inorganic alkalies ; while strych- 

 nia, which under ordinary circumstances replaces only one equivalent 

 of water, belongs to a class which has no analogue among the series 

 of inorganic bases. — R. S. Edinburgh. Jameson's Journal, July 1848. 



ON THE PREPARATION OF CREATINE, &C. BY DR. GREGORY. 



After some remarks on the present state of animal chemistry, the 

 author commenced by giving a brief account of the recent discoveries 

 of Liebig in regard to the constituents of the "juice of flesh," or the 

 liquid contained in the substance of the muscles, which is distin- 

 guished from the blood by the large quantity of free acid which it 

 contains. This remarkable animal fluid has been found by Liebig 

 to contain phosphoric and lactic acids in large quantity, inosinic acid 

 in small proportion, and some other acids not yet studied ; also pot- 

 ash in large quantity, with a little soda, a considerable proportion of 

 magnesia, and a little lime, chloride of potassium, with a little chlo- 

 ride of sodium, and, besides some compounds of animal origin not 

 yet investigated, the new base Creatinine, and the very remarkable 

 substance Creatine, first discovered by Chevreul, but in vain sought 

 for by Berzelius and other chemists. 



He then described the process, essentially that of Liebig, by which 

 creatine is extracted from the flesh of quadrupeds, birds and fishes, 

 in all of which hitherto tried it has been found, although in small and 

 variable quantity. A table was exhibited, showing the per-centage 

 obtained from different kinds of flesh and fish ; and the result was, 

 that this interesting substance may be most easily and cheaply pre- 

 pared from fish, especially the cod, herring, salmon and mackerel, all 

 of which yielded much more than beef or horse-flesh, and nearly as 

 much as fowl, which was the most productive. The maximum pro- 

 portion of creatine was 3*2 per 1000 parts of flesh ; the average about 

 lo per 1000. 



The author stated that he had found inosinic acid only in the flesh 

 of fowl and turkey ; and he is informed by Baron Liebig, that it is 

 quite possible that this acid may also have been confined to the flesh 

 of fowls in his experiments, as it was often absent, although he can- 

 not now ascertain the cases in which it was present. 



