when treated iv'dh Nitric Acid. 329 



on the addition of lime \vn.ter, a second precipitate, which 

 was found to be no other than the oxalate of lime. By 

 gently cvaporatina; the fluid which remained after these two 

 precipitatl();:s the liquor thickened into a viscid brown sy- 

 rup, having a bitter taste somewhat similar to that of wal- 

 nut rind : when mixed with a large quantity of alcohol a 

 very abundant separation of a white matter took place, and 

 the whole was formed into a coagulum. This matter con- 

 sisted of very pure malate of lime, and the alcohol contain- 

 ing in solution the yellow bitter substance. 



The learned authors of the memoir from which we 2;ive 

 a detailed extract, infer from the facts above stated, 1 . That 

 muscles contain potash, lime, and sulphuric acid, or rather 

 sulphur which has been oxygenated by the action of the 

 nitric acid : 2. That a portion of the muscular fibre, or 

 rather of the cellular substance in which it is enveloped, 

 becomes converted by the nitric acid into malic and oxalic 

 acid. 



The alcohol employed to effect the separation of the ma- 

 late of lime held in solution, 1 . a small quantity of nitrate 

 of lime; 2. a reddish brown matter, having a very bitter 

 taste, with a flavour like that of walnut, of which we shall 

 speak hereafter; 3. a small portion of the detonating sub- 

 stance which has been found in indigo : it was obtained in 

 this instance by the concentration of the alcoholic solution, 

 and separated in the form of granulated crystals, which 

 were highly inflammable, and detonating, upon the addition 

 of carbonate of potash. 



V. A little consideration of this analysis will readily 

 convince us of the importance of the inferences v.'hich it 

 affords, more especially when we compare the information 

 hitherto possessed upon this subject with the more extended 

 ideas which it opens upon a point so interesting in its con- 

 sequences and in its application to the animal ceconomy : 

 indeed we may almost venture to assert, that there is now 

 little left to be desired upon the subject. 



The disengagement of azote, and the formation of car- 

 bonic acid, of fat, of oxalic acid, and of a bitter matter, 

 were all the facts formerly known regarding the action of 

 nitric acid upon animal substances : to these our authors 

 have added tlie discovery, 1. of a yellow antl almost in- 

 sipid matlcr, which, although acid, dissolves with diffi- 

 culty, and uiiich innncdiatcly replaces the fleshy fibre; 

 2. of anollicr yellow substance, bitter to the taste, more 

 soluble, and efpially acid, which remains dissolved in the 

 nitiic liquor ; :i. of an inilruinn:ible detonating substance 



which 



