184 ?; Miscellanies. 
“A violent wind commonly increases the carbonic acid during the 
day, in the lower strata of the air, and destroys, in whole or in part, 
the increase of the gas during the night.” 
The author’s experiments were continued during several years, the 
‘last noted, being on the third of January, 1830. “They amounted to 
the number of two hundred and twenty five. He found in a volume 
of ten thousand parts of air, a minimum of about 3.06 parts, anda 
maximum of 5.78 parts of carbonic acid. 
On the summit of the Dole, about four thousand feet above the sur 
face of the lake, the quantity was 4.61, while, at the same time, 
at Chambeisy, on the plain, it was 4.74, and on another occasion 
it was 4.91 on the mountain and 4.46 on the plain. This difference 
is ascribed to the superior influence of vegetation on the plain, which 
decomposes the carbonic acid, and to the greater absorption of it by 
the streams. The greatest difference observed at the extreme heights 
was during a time of extraordinary humidity— Bib. Univ. Juin, 1830. 
2. On the mutual action of iodic acid and morphine, or the acetate 
of that base; by M. Servutias.—If iodic acid, in solution, at a common 
temperature, be brought into contact with a single grain of morphine, 
or acetate of that base, the liquid becomes of a deep red brown, and 
exhales a strong odor of iodine. The hundredth part of a grain of 
acetate of morphine, is sufficient 10 produce the effect very sensibly. 
The action is prompt when the fluid is somewhat concentrated, slower 
when diluted, but not less appreciable, in the lapse of a few seconds 
even in seven thousand parts of water. : 
Quinine, cinchonine, veratrine, picrotoxine, narcotine, strychnine, 
and brucine, subjected to the same trial, have no action on iodie acid; 
while the smallest quantity of morphine, or its acetate, becomes evi- 
dent in the manner just mentioned. Iodic acid may therefore be re 
garded as an extremely sensible reagent for detecting the presence of 
morphine, either free or combined with acetic sulphuric, nitric oT hy- 
drochloric acid, not only isolated, but also in mixture with vegetable 
alkalies, provided the latter have no action on iodic acid; or, if they 
have any, that it does not resemble that which morphine exerts suinder 
the same circumstances. 
To render more distinct the iodine set free in the experiment, W° 
may begin by triturating with a little starch jelly, the small quantity 
of liquid containing the morphine, or its salts, and then add @ ak 
drops of the solution of iodic acid, which immediately develops the 
blue color. 
This process will serve equally well for the detection of opium, for 
a few drops of laudanum, or of an aqueous solution of opium, min 
i 
