IS15.] in the Physical Sciences. 41 



on a remarkable urine emitted by a man of the age of 33. He 

 had been afflicted with a gonorrhaea virulenta ever since the age of 

 24. In consequence of cold, to which he had been exposed, his 

 breasts swelled, and a few days after he passed the remarkable urine 

 which drew the attention of Professor Wurzer. It was milk-white, 

 and contained in it a notable quantity of a matter which possessed 

 exactly the properties of curd. 



3. Magnesia in Human Bones. — Fourcroy and Vauquelin first 

 discovered the presence of magnesia in the bones of inferior 

 animals ; but they could detect none in human bones. For this 

 ihey assigned a physiological reason. In man the magnesia is 

 carried off in the urine ; but this is not the case in the inferior 

 animals. Hence it appears in the bones of the latter, but not of 

 t'he former. Berzelius repeated the experiments of Fourcroy and 

 Vauquelin, and could not by their method detect any magnesia in 

 human bones ; but he gives another process, by which he assures 

 us he detected it. Professor Hildebrandt, of Erlangen, has lately 

 resumed this subject, and repeated the experiments of Fourcroy and 

 Vauquelin. Like them, he could detect no magnesia in human 

 bonts, and therefore concludes that Berzelius was mistaken. Now 

 I must acknowledge that this mode of proceeding appears very 

 extraordinary. To repeat a process, which, Berzelius himself 

 admits, does not yield any magnesia, and then to conclude that 

 Berzelius is mistaken because tlie experiment turns out just as he 

 foretold it would. To refute Berzelius' conclusion, it would be 

 necessary to repeat the experiment as he describes it, or to show 

 experimentally that the experiment is incapableof repetition. 



4. Urinaiy Calculus of a Horse. — A urinary calculus of a horse 

 analysed by Professor Vl'urzer was found to contain the following 

 constituents: — 



Carbonate of lime 66 



Phosphate of lime 20-05 



Carbonate of magnesia A'OG 



Red oxide of iron 0-005 



Animal matter 5)-SS5 



100-000 



5. Milk. — In 1813 C. F. Schwarz published an inaugural disser- 

 tation at Kiel on the analysis of milk. From 1000 parts of cow's 

 milk lie obtained the following substances : — 



Phosphate of lime 1*805 



I'hosphate of magnesia 0*170 



I'hosphate of iron 0*032 



Phosphate of soda O-l'25 



JNluriate of potash 1-350 



J-.iictatc of soda 0*11 5 



3-C:)7 

 iOOO partj of iiiiman milk cuiilaiii, 



