CHEMICAL SCIENCE. 269 



some of the same fluid was being poured down my throat, and then suc- 

 ceeded a few moments of uncertainty as to where I was, during which there 

 Was a loud rushing noise in my ears, like steam passing out of a tea-kettle, 

 and a feeling of constriction around the lower part of my neck, as if my 

 coat were buttoned too tightly; my forehead was wet with perspiration, and 

 I yawned frequently. My intellects returned, however, almost immediately, 

 and I remember saying, ' This has nothing to do with homoeopathy, but it 

 has to do with a very powerful poison.' When these sensations had passed 

 off, which they did in a minute or so, they were succeeded by a slight head- 

 ache, and dull, heavy pain in the stomach, with a decided feeling of sickness, 

 though without any apprehension that it would amount to vomiting. This 

 condition lasted about half an hour, at the end of which I Avas quite Avell, 

 and walked home, a distance of half a mile, Avith perfect comfort. 



" The physician to Avhom I am indebted for this overdose told me, that 

 Avhen his first impression that I \vas shamming had passed off, my condition 

 caused him the greatest alarm, for he really thought he had killed me. I 

 learn from him that my head fell back, my jaw dropped, I was perfectly 

 Avhite, breathing stertorous, and no pulse at the wrist for the space of about 

 tAvo minutes. He immediately rushed to a closet and procured some stimu- 

 lant, which he poured doAvn my throat." 



Since the publication of the aboA r e statement by Mr. Field, other experi- 

 menters have operated with glonoine, and the results obtained are most dis- 

 cordant; so much so, that its physiological action can by no means be consid- 

 ered as established. The general opinion, however, is, that iX is an agent of 

 great potency. 



ON PEPSIN, AND ITS CHEMICAL AND PHYSIOLOGICAL PROPERTIES. 



In an extended communication made by M. Boudault, to the Socie'te 

 de Pharmacie, Paris, the author, after discussing the general properties of 

 pepsin, proceeds to make the folloAving remarks upon that substance em- 

 ployed as a medicine: Its administration presents some rather considerable 

 difficulties, in consequence of its liability to alteration Avhen the vessel which 

 contains it has been open. Besides this, its origin, its viscosity, and its disa- 

 greeable smell, Avere so many motives for disliking it on the part of the 

 patient. It Avas necessary, then, to find a method of transforming it without 

 injuring its medicinal action. It was to be feared, in associating it A\ r ith an 

 inert substance, that the latter would experience a kind of digestion, or Avould 

 act upon the pepsin as a ferment. It was necessary, besides, that this sub- 

 stance should be sufficiently hygrometric to absorb the humidity of the pep- 

 sin, and not to attract, in addition, the air. Sugar was one of the substances 

 with Avhich it appeared most easy to associate pepsin ; but at the end of some 

 days the cane sugar is transformed, under its influence, into glucose, and af- 

 terwards into lactic acid, for here the pepsin acts as a true ferment. Starch 

 dried at 100 (Cent.) has given to M. Boudault the most favorable results. 

 Starch, which has the property of not injuring the digestion, forms Avith 

 pepsin a pulverulent matter, the odor of which is very weak, and the taste 

 partly disguised. The pOAvder is preserved very well, in Avell-stopped bottles, 

 and time does not modify in any way its physiological properties. Under 

 this form, pepsin maybe mixed with a number of medical substances Avhicli 

 do not at all modify its therapeutic action: thus, AA'ith hydrochlorate of mor- 

 phia, to relieve violent pains of the stomach ; Avith strychnine, to stimulate 



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