ox METEORIC STONES. 



147 



hy the imme o^ mucus, or animal mucilage, which is nei- 

 ther gelatine nor albumen-. 



This humour which is secreted in the nostrils, mouth, Mucus. 

 a?sophagus, trachea, stomach, bladder, and all the cavities 

 of the body in general, imparts to water considerable vis- 

 cosity, and the property of frothing greatly on agitation. 

 In certain species of coryza it may be drawn out into ;„ some dis- 

 threadslike the substance of silk or the web of the spider; eased states ap- 

 retains its transparency and flexibility after desication ; ^^^^^ 

 and Mr. Vauquelin has no doubt, that it would perfectly 

 resemble hair, if it contained a little oil. 



The epidermis, nails, horns, wool, and hair of beasts , ^^'^f^ P**".^' 

 , I I n , -1 J formed from It. 



in general, are formed ot the same animal mucus, and 



equally include in their composition a certain quantity of 

 oil, which imparts to them the suppleness and elasticity 

 they are known to possess. 



Mr. Vauquelin has begun an examination of the humour Humour of the 

 of the plica polomca, with which he was furnished by plica, a super- 

 Mr. Alibert, physician to St. Lewis's Hospital ; and from ^fX'maucrof 

 what he has done, he is led to believe, that it is of the hair. 

 same nature as the substance of the hair, but secreted in 

 greater quantity than the formation of the hair requires. 



XI. 



Abstract of a Memoir on a nezo Principle in Meteoric 

 tStones : hi) A. Laugier*. 



E' 



'VER since the English chemist Mr. Howard, called Composition of 

 the attention of philosophers and naturalists towards the meteoric »ton»« 

 stones called meteoric, all chemists who have repeated • 

 the experiments laid down in his interesting memoir, have 

 obtained similar results. They ail agree that whatever 

 the time, or wherever the place in which these stones have 

 fallen, their component principles have been the same, viz. 

 silex, iron, manganese, sulphur, nickel, with a few acci- 

 dental traces of lime and alumine. We see, in comparing 

 the results of their analysis, that these principles exist in * 

 very nearly equal proportions. M. Proust has lately 



* Annalcs dc Chimie, Vol. LVIII p. a6i.— June 1806. 

 ' Us announced 



