1869.] Chemistry. 109 



of the solidity of the fibre is too prolonged digestion, particularly 

 with caustic soda. M. Kolbe says, that after having proved the 

 existence of pectose in the unsteeped flax, and of pectic acid in 

 the same flax after steeping, it is to be hoped that the attention of 

 chemists will be drawn to the pectic fermentation, well known, 

 doubtless, as a scientific fact, but of which no one suspected an 

 industrial apphcation of so high importance. 



The value of carbolic acid as a cure for the bites of venomous 

 snakes has been made public by Dr. J. W. Hood, B.Sc, of Mel- 

 bourne. He writes : " I have long entertamed the opinion that 

 carbolic acid, taken internally and used as a caustic to the wound, 

 would be found to be beneficial, and, perhaps, a specific cure. That 

 I am right, to a certain extent, is proved by the fact that a friend 

 of mine, a medical man living at Warrnambool, Dr. Boyd , success- 

 fully treated two cases of snake-bite with carbolic acid. I am not 

 aware of more particulars than that the first case was a young lad 

 bitten by a tiger-snake, the most venomous these colonies produce, 

 and Dr. Boyd — six hours after the boy was bitten — administered 

 ten drops of pure acid in brandy and water, every few minutes. 

 The efiect was magical — from a pallid countenance, slow pulse, and 

 semi-comatose condition, the patient ralhed to a bright expression, 

 ruddy glow, and quick pulse, and the recovery, though slow, was 

 continuous and certain." 



In a short communication to the * Centralblatt,' Drs. Bergmann 

 and Si'hmiedeberg describe a crystalhne substance, to which they 

 have apphed the name " sulphate of sepsin," obtained from putre- 

 fying materials, and which they beheve represents the proper poison 

 of organic substances undergoing this kind of fermentation. It is 

 obtained by difiusion through parchment paper, precipitation with 

 corrosive sublimate from an alkahne solution, removal of the mer- 

 cury by silver, of silver by sulphm'etted hydrogen, evaporation, 

 and purification of the residue. Large, well-defined, acicular 

 needles are thus obtained, which are deliquescent in the air, and 

 wlien exposed to heat, melt and carbonize. They possess a jaower- 

 fnlly poisonous action. A solution containing scarcely more than 

 one-hundredth of a gramme was injected into the veins of two dogs. 

 Vomiting was immediately induced, and after a short time diarrhoea, 

 which in the course of an hour became bloody. After nine hours 

 the animals were kiUed, and on examination their stomachs and 

 large intestines were found ecchymosed and the small intestine 

 congested. Frogs could be killed in the same manner. 



There has been only one meeting of the Chemical Society 

 (Nov. 5, 1868), and the space occupied by other matter compels us 

 to defer an account of the proceedings until our next number. 



