

Chemical Science. 173 



The original mixture is solid at common temperatures, but fuses 

 at about 85°. Fah. When boiled in alcohol, a small portion dis- 

 solTes. 



The water, as it issues from the end of the ejection-pipe into the 

 tub placed to receive it, and from which it is pumped up again into 

 the generator, appears white and translucent, and after having been 

 used some time, very much resembles thin milk. A scum is found 

 floating on it, which, when collected together, forms a soft solid, but 

 when it has been long exposed to the action of the steam and at a 

 high temperatuie, is hard like wax nearly. It is always black and 

 dirty. A portion of this substance was digested in hot alcohol, and 

 the clear solution set aside; flocculi separated in abundance from it 

 on cooling, which, when dried, collected, and fused, gave a grayish 

 substance, contracting and cracking as it cooled, with the lustre and 

 appearance of wax, but rather more brittle. It does not melt in 

 boiling water, but at a higher heat melts, and ultimately burns like 

 fat. It is rather lighter than water ; it dissolves readily in alkalies, 

 more readily, I think, than fat, and in this respect resembles Chev- 

 reul's acids of fat, as well as in its solubility in alcohol ; the alka- 

 line solution is turbid. It is not soluble in ether, or very slightly so ; 

 when burnt it leaves an ash consisting principally of carbonate of 

 lime. 



The cold alcoholic,'solution, on evaporation, left a substance similar 

 in many respects, but much softer, even fluid. It burnt in the same 

 manner, leaving a slight ash of carbonate of lime. The merest trace 

 of copper was found in these substances. 



The action of the alcohol being continued, nothing at last remained 

 but dirt and mechanical impurities. The softer portions from the 

 surface of the water were found to contain a quantity of unchanged 

 fat and oil. 



The milky water, on examination, was found to be a mixture, 

 probably, of this substance and water. It undergoes no change in 

 appearance when left for many weeks, but when filtered through good 

 filtering paper, the latter portions came through clear and trans- 

 parent, the altered fat being separated. When evaporated it leaves a 

 substance having all the properties of the solid matter above de- 

 scribed. The finely-divided state of the substance, its solidity, and 

 its near approach to the specific gravity of water, will, perhaps, 

 account for the length of time during which it will remain uniformly 

 diffused through it. 



27. On Eritrogene, and the colouring Matter of the Blood. By 

 B. ftizio. — A person afflicted with the yellow jaundice, died in the 

 hospital at Venice, in June, 1821. During an anatomical ex- 

 amination, there was found, in place of bile, a fluid which pos- 

 sessed none of the characters of that secretion. It was in conse- 

 quence, given toll Sig. D. Uizio for examination, who, finding it to be 



