202 Miscellanies. 
to dryness, gave a residue of 85 grains. From these the blood is seen to 
contain— 
Water, 8029 
Globules, 130°6 
Fibrine, ‘ ‘ . F ‘ ‘ 39 
Albumen, . ‘ ; ‘ : ‘ : 50°6 
Inorganic salts, . . i . , i 12°0 
1000°0 
The author recommends the employment of saline solutions for the 
purpose of separating the globular matter from organic fluids, as milk, 
mucus, chyle, lymph. M. Figuier has also made a chemical examina- 
tion of the globules, and he thinks it probable that they contain a small 
quantity of fibrine, albumen, and the coloring matter of the blood. 
Cause of Diabetes, by L. Miatne, (Ann. de Chim. et de Phys. Sept. 
1844.)—It is known that in a healthy state animals may feed on sugar, 
gum, &c. without any appearance whatsoever of these substances in the 
urine or other secretions ; but in the disease called diabetes, this kind of 
food appears to undergo little or no change, and the urine is found to 
contain more or less sugar, or a substance resembling gum. The result 
of the present experiments has been to show that hydrocarbonaceous food, 
such as grape sugar, gum, starch, &c. does not undergo assimilation un- 
til the alkalies of the blood have transformed them into a peculiar sub- 
stance, the nature of which has not yet been examined; if however this 
transformation does not take place, they undergo no change, and are ex- 
creted by the kidneys. The reason why saccharine and farinaceous 
matter does not undergo the requisite change in the diabetic patient is 
explained as follows: individuals suffering under diabetes do not perspire, 
or but very slightly ; as the secretions of the skin are acid, it follows that 
when they are suppressed, the presence in the blood of free alkalies or 
their carbonates becomes impossible, being neutralized by the acids not 
excreted ; consequently the saccharine matter used as food cannot under- 
go the chang ge necessary prior to its assimilation, and the kidneys endeavor 
to diseinbarrass the blood of what is now foreign and noxious. This fact 
Suggests, as the curative means for diabetes, diaphoretics and alkaline 
preparations, 
Volatile Acids of Butter, by J.U. Lezeu, (Ann. der Chem. und. 1. Pharm. 
Vol. 49, p. 212.)—The acids that have bear obtained are— 
Butyric acid, . Ce He OF 
Caproic acid, , ‘ . , C12 H!204 
Capryllic acid, . r " C16 W168 Of 
Capric acid, 
: . . ‘ C20 2° Ot 
Vaccinic acid, 
. i ini s * C29 H29 Q7 
