Reply to a Review in Brande's Journal of Science. 123 



acid, from its chemical history and preparation, is of too trivial 

 a nature, and absm-d, to need refutation. Every book on che- 

 mistry is full of examples of such practice ; and Gay Lussac him- 

 self has followed no other method in his admirable essay on hy- 

 drocyanic acid. 



In the succeeding paragraph of his c;itic|ue, relating to the 

 physiological experiments made with the pure hydrocyanic acid 

 by several authors and myself, the reviewer remarks, that " as 

 Mr. Brodie's investigations upon this subject, are the most satis- 

 factory that have hitherto been made ; and, as they are not even 

 alkided to bv me, he shall decline troubling his readers with those 

 I have detailed." To which, this is my reply: 



1. Mr. Brodie never made any experiment with the p«re //y- 



drocyanic acid. 



2. Previous and subsequently to Mr. Brodie's investigation 



respecting the action of various poisons on animals, Coul- 

 lon, Emmert, Magendie, and others, had and have insti- 

 tuted experiments ivith the pure hydrocyanic acidj or with 

 substances containing it, not only upon animals, but upon 

 the human system, which, in a work of practical utility, 

 and not simply of philosophical speculation, could not but 

 be preferred to every other experiment. 

 Either, therefore, O knew all this ; and in such a case, where is 

 candour and truth in concealing it ? — or he knew it not ; and in 

 that case, it was his duty, ere he undertook to criticise the book, 

 to have made himself master of its subject. 



The eighth section of the work relates to the means of detect- 

 ing prussic acid, and preventing its poisonous effects : " in nei- 

 tiicr (if which," says the candid and just reviewer, "do we re- 

 mark any thing either very new or very important ;" but re- 

 specting which I must beg leave to ask him two questions. 



1. Is it not very important to determine the symptoms of poi- 

 soning bv this acid, and to ascertain the best means for counter- 

 acting its deleterious effects ? These objects have been accom- 

 jilislicd, as far as they could be, in the said eighth section. 



2. Is it not very important to be acquainted with the means of 

 •letectiiig the presence of prussic acid, particularly in cases of 

 death from that substance ? And have these means, or tlie mode 

 of conducting the investigation, been pointed out to the public 

 before the ajjpcaraucc of my work, by any chemist, English ov 

 foreign ? Is not that new, wiiich is not to be found elscwiierc ? 

 Is any thing of the kind contained in the works of Kourcroy, 

 Chaptal, Tbenard, Thomson, Murray, Orfila,Menry, Children, 

 or even in your own manual of chemistry ? No. 



Then wliat i)ecomcs of the justice, correctness, candour, and I 

 mayuaw adii, the knowledge, in tlicsc mailers, of the reviewer ? 



Q 1 IV-rhaws 



