Intelligence and Miscellaneous Articles. 377 



extremelj' interesting to pursue this subject further. From what 

 has been stated, it results that the view Avhich I have advanced can 

 neither be confirmed or refuted by any number whatever of analyses 

 of the ashes of plants, which have been prepared according to the 

 methods hitherto in use, but only by a process similar to that I have 

 described, and which I have therefore pronounced a far more 

 rational method of investigation. 



I have already shown that frequently very considerable quantities 

 of alkaline carbonates are extracted by water from several organic 

 substances after charring, in the ashes of which no carbonic acid 

 was found by former investigators. But all organic substances do 

 not yield alkaline carbonates Avhen treated in this manner, even 

 though considerable quantities of alkali are contained in their ash. 

 Highly remarkable in this respect is yeast, the ash of which, accor- 

 ding to Mitscherlich *, contains no carbonic acid and no metallic chlo- 

 rides; and my experiments show that they are likewise not to be 

 found in the aqueous extract of the charred yeast. Yeast diffuses, 

 on being charred, an odour similar to that of the proteine compounds; 

 the aqueous extract did not turn litmus-paper blue, became turbid 

 on evaporation, and deposited a large quantity of earthy phosphates. 

 The mass, evaporated to dryness, yielded on filtration a clear solu- 

 tion, which faintly reddened litnms-paper, and contained therefore 

 not a trace of alkaline carbonates; I could only find in it alkaline 

 phosphates, with very minute traces of alkaline sulphates and chlo- 

 rides. The charred mass gave, on treatment with hydrochloric acid, 

 a solution, from which ammonia threw down a considerable precipi- 

 tate of earthy phosphates. The cinder, exhausted with water and 

 acid, furnished on combustion a very large quantity of ash, which 

 contained the same constituents which had been extracted from the 

 charred mass. These experiments, the results of which entirely 

 agree with those obtained by Mitscherlich, were made with top-yeast, 

 which had been perfectly purified by washing. Other results may 

 perhaps be obtained by using unwashed yeast for the experiments ; 

 for the beery liquid, separated from the yeast by filtration and eva- 

 porated, did not diffuse on charring the same disagreeable odour as 

 the yeast itself, or as nitrogenous substances generally at a high 

 temperature. The evaporated solution, extracted with water from 

 the charred mass, contained a large amount of carbonated alkali, and 

 efl^ervesced therefore strongly with acids, with nmch chloride of potas- 

 sium, but only a little phosphate of potash. The charred mass, ex- 

 hausted witli water and iiydrochloric acid, yielded a tolerable quan- 

 tity of a light ash containing piiosphates and a large quantity of 

 silica, which latter element Mitsciierlich likewise found in the ash of 

 beert. 



* Cliem. Gaz., vol. iv. p. 69. 



t After tills paper had been read before tlic Royal Academy of Berlin, I 

 received a letter from Berzellus, to whom I had communicated tlie principal 

 results, ill which he states that he advanced a view similar to that which I have 

 proposed on the ashes of the blood, more than 10 years ago, In his work on animal 

 chemistry.^ It occurs also in Schweigger's ' Journal fiir Choniie uiid Physlk,' 

 vol. IX. p. 3'Jl, 1813. It has however never been expressed in the various editions 

 of Berzelius's ' Manual of Chemistry.' 



