various dropsical Fluids, and the Serum of the Blood. 65 



kind of alkaline impregnation in the blood, in the dropsy 

 fluids, in the fluid effused by vesicating with cantharides, 

 in the fluid becreted from the nose owing to a catarrh, and 

 even in the urine. And as I did not find the soda alkali in 

 a similar state, I coricluded that hitherto this alkali had, 

 probablv, been mistaken for the potash. (See our preceding 

 numbers.) In the ingenious paper, however, which has oc- 

 casioned this reply, it is asserted that the alkali in combi- 

 nation with the animal matter is the soda ; but it is inferred 

 that potash is also present, not in the state I discovered, 

 but united to muriatic acid. 



It would not be treating the public justly, if I did not say 

 that the paper before me contains an inquiry conducted 

 conjointly by Dr. Marcet the writer, and Dr. Wollaston; as 

 Dr. Marcet represents, I allow very fairly, to enhance the 

 credit of his statement. Considering the power of these 

 allied opponents, the odds are fearful; but confiding in the 

 assurance of lord Bacon, that induction by experiment 

 equalizes* the mental faculties among different men, I shall 

 with this palladium obey the summons to the arena — at the 

 worst issue, with such adversaries it would be glorious even 

 to fall in the slrnggle ; 



at^imus proh Jupiter! 



Causam; et mecum confcrtur Ulysses. 



To enable the chemical public to judge rightly of the dif- 

 ferent conclusions, above declared, concerning the kinds 

 and slates of the alkalies existing in the animal fluids, the 

 evidence of the opposing parlies must be heard. The ad- 

 verse party, however, have not attempted to invalidate my 

 evidence, by showin^^ that the conclusions are unjustifiable, 

 but have merely exhibited their own experiments and con- 

 clusions. This mode of procedure, I apprehend, is not ac- 

 cording to the laws of controversy ; and it compels me to 

 make a statement of at least some of the most decisive ex- 

 periments for my conclusions, previously to the examina- 

 liyn of the contravenmg evidence. 



I. 961 grains of exsiccated sputum, on incineration and 

 fusion, afforded 45 grains of saline substances consisting of 

 35 grains of cubical crystals of muriate of soda, and the 

 rest were spicular and uncrystallizcd salt amounting to ten 

 grains. These ten grains were separated for distinct exa- 

 mination. They manifested the properties of alkaline mat- 



• Nostra vero invenieiidi scientias ea est ratio, ut non multum ingeniorum 

 ^'Ctimini et robori relinquatur ; sed qujE in^ecia et intellectus fere eiaquet.— 



Bacon's A'uvum Orfianum, J lii. 



Vol. 39. No. 165. Jan. 1812. E ter. 



