328 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 



walls formed by the liver-cells, and which communicate with the 

 interlobular branches of the hepatic duct. 



Oxygenized Blood and Decapitation. — According to the experi- 

 ments of Dr. Claude Bernard, if oxygenized blood be injected into 

 the arteries of the neck immediately after decapitation, warmth 

 and sensibility return, the eyes get animated, and display such 

 perception, that an object shaken before them will cause winking 

 and movements of the eyeballs as if to avoid injury. 



Pycemia. — Dr. Richardson has separated the poison of pyaemia; 

 it may be, he says, evaporated to the form of a syrup or extract. 

 It forms, when dried, a substance closely resembling the snake 

 poison. If pulverized, and introduced into the wound of a 

 healthy animal, it produces precisely the same symptoms as those 

 of the patient from which the poison was taken. 



Hcematoidin. — According to Holm, hasmatoidin differs from 

 bilirubin not only in form and color, but in essential chemical 

 properties. The latter has the properties of a weak acid and 

 combines with bases, the former is an indifferent body; the latter 

 is insoluble in ether, the former easily soluble ; the latter is re- 

 moved from alkaline solutions by chloroform, the former not. 

 According to Staedeler, the coloring matter of the yolk of the 

 egg is either hiematoidin itself, or a body very similar to it. 



Santonine. — According to Prof. Franceschi, santonine, the vege- 

 table base of Artemisia santonica, in itself white, when taken in- 

 ternally, causes objects to appear tinged with yellow. He attributes 

 this to the santonine imparting a j-ellow tint to the humors of the 

 eye, having undergone a chemical change of color from contact 

 with the serum of the blood. 



Watering Streets and Sidewalks. — The practice of deluging un- 

 cleaned streets and sidewalks, not merely sprinkling them, is 

 deleterious to the public health, as the rapid evaporation of the 

 moisture carries with it into the atmosphere a large amount of 

 poisonous organic matter calculated to breed disease. Street-filth 

 is far less deleterious when dry than when moist during the ex- 

 treme heat of summer. Sprinkling furnishes one of the two con- 

 ditions that are absolutely necessary before decomposition can 

 take place, namely, moisture. 



Animal Quinoidinc. — This curious substance was discovered by 

 Dr. Bence Jones. It causes the phenomena known as fluorescence 

 of tissues. We learn from the " Gazette Hebdomadaire " that Dr. 

 Chalvet has proved before the Societe de Biologic, that this is not 

 produced in the tissues, as previous observers supposed, but is 

 found in most articles of food, especially wine and vegetables. It 

 is introduced into the organs with these ingesta, and mixes with 

 the fluids of the body, like iron, but is never originated there. His 

 researches tend to prove its identity with quinine. 



Curious Effect of Thallium. — This substance has the property 

 of entering the circulation, and producing the most offensive odor 

 to the perspiration of the parties taking it. Dr. Bunsen was com- 

 pelled to absent himself from society for four weeks on this 

 account. This one property will kill it for all practical use in 

 medicine. Its action is similar to zinc and iron on the economy. 



