Chemical Sdetice. 401 



bodies differs from them in others. It is insoluble in ether ; is 

 extremely sensible to the action of galls ; is susceptible of a 

 slow fermentation when alone, and occasions it when mixed 

 with saccharine substances. 



On Zimotna. — Gluten, when treated with alcohol as de- 

 scribed, is generally reduced about one third in weight, in con- 

 sequence of the abstraction of the gloiodine and water. What 

 remains is zimoma, which may be rendered pure by boiling it in 

 alcohol, or by continuing to wash with cold alcohol until the last 

 portions of gloiodine are removed. The zimoma then appears in 

 small globules, or in an unformed mass, hard, tenacious, of a 

 greyish yellow colour, and unadhesive. When washed in water 

 it again becomes somewhat viscid, and when exposed to the air 

 changes its appearance, and becomes obscured. It is heavier 

 than water ; it does not ferment like gluten, but exhales the 

 odour of putrid urine. It dissolves completely in vinegar, and 

 by boiling in the mineral acids ; when acted on by caustic pot- 

 ash ; it forms a soapy compound in the alkaline carbonates, 

 and in lime-water it shrinks, wrinkles, becomes harder, and is 

 altered in texture without being dissolved. When burnt, it ex- 

 hales the smell of skin and horn, and emits flame. 



Zimoma is abundantly dispersed in many parts of vegetables, 

 and is the cause of various fermentations, according to the na- 

 ture of the substance with which it is combined. The term 

 gluten now belongs only to the chemical compound of gloiodine 

 and zimoma. — Giornale di Fisica, 2. p. 360. 



5. Gluten an Antidote for Corrosive Sublimate. — During the 

 researches undertaken by Dr. Taddei on gluten and on wheaten 

 flour, he discovered that gluten had the property of acting on 

 the red oxide of mercury, and on corrosive sublimate. If it 

 be mixed with either of these substances it immediately loses 

 its viscidity, becomes hard, and is not at all liable to putre- 

 faction. Further, if flour be made into a paste, with solution 

 of corrosive sublimate, it is impossible to separate the gluten 

 and starch in the usual way. This effect induced Dr. Taddei 

 to suppose, that in cases of poiKoning by corrosive sublimate, 



Vol. IX. 2 C 



