292 Oti Animal Fluids. 



Communication to your Journal, p. 6i), 1. 15. for January 

 last. On (bat occasion I expressed my doubt whether or 

 not the aceiate of soda be dissoluble in alcohol, but I de- 

 ferred to the authority of txperinient. Here my iearned 

 frii lui exaUingly construes these phrases of doubt, two 

 palpable, errors, and seems to triumph — " a hit, a hit, my 

 Lord, a very palpable hit." — No: there is no error in this 

 case, Dr. Marcet ; according to the Eriglish meanmg of 

 the terms used. To make the utmost of these asserted 

 errors, I am also charged with no less than three times rc- 

 peatmg them ; as ii the propriety of writing was absolutely 

 limited to the number of times an assertion should be de- 

 livered. At this time however, without the slightc3t un- 

 easy sensation, I say that acetate of soda is a deliquescent 

 salt, and dissoluble in alcohol ; for I have performed the 

 necessary experiment; not indeed with " half a gra n and a 

 watch-glass," but with 50 grains. The truth is, I had not 

 leisure, little time as was required, when I wrote my Com-, 

 mvmication, to make the experiment; but as, on inquiry of 

 a friend most likely to be informed, 1 found he was igno- 

 rant; as on just looking into two valuable books, Aikin's 

 Dictionary, and Thomson's Elementarv Work, one said 

 the acetate of soda was a permanent, and the other a deli- 

 quescent salt; and as in my collection of spe'cimens there 

 was a permanent crystallized salt labelled by my Assistant, 

 Acetate of Sod.i; 1 thought it best to leave the matter as 

 doubtful, although I own I inclined to the contrary opinion 

 of that which is now 1 believe the truth. Dr. M. may call 

 this a pnlpable error, if he pleases — he will hurt nobody 

 but himselt by the phrase. The main proof is hereby not 

 aflfected ; for the fact now ascertained against my doubtful 

 opinion is only a collateral evidence on cither side. 



Thirdly — Another source of evidence against mc is that 

 potash combiuei] " was proved by the tests of oxymuriate of 

 platina and tartaric acid." The just inference has been 

 already proposed ; but I will barely remark that the experi- 

 ment does not prove that soda was or was not present. 



As to any other proofs, they have been already minutely 

 examined in my former Reply, or have been answered in 

 this: but I entreat the indulgence of being allowed to make 

 two or three further remarks. 1. On the fluid of the spina 

 bifida, of the thorax, and of the pericardium, the tartaric 

 acid was not employed at all. Of these fluids the analysis 

 in i:!;eneral was very partinl. 2. Of the alkaline matter of 

 the hydrocephalus fluid, the experiment must be unsatis- 

 I'actory by the tests, on account of the impracticability of 



entirely 



