ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 151 
Dr. Blake related the results of some physiological experi- 
ments he had performed, to determine the molecular relations 
of Beryllium. Neither the specific heat of the metal, or the 
vapor density of its chloride, had been ascertained, and chem- 
ists were undecided as to whether it was a trivalent or quadri- 
valent element. Its physiological reactions, when introduced 
directly into the blood, so closely resemble those of alumina, 
that there can be no doubt but that it belongs to the same 
isomorphous group, and that itis therefore quadrivalent. There 
is also a close relation between the intensity of the physiologi- 
cal action of the compounds of these two metals and their 
atomic weights. In a series of experiments, conducted ex- 
pressly to determine this point, the quantities of BesOs, under 
the form of sulphate, required to kill 2,270 grammes of rabbit, 
when injected into the veins in divided doses, were .059, .061, 
.050 grm; ard of AlzOs, injected under the same conditions, 
were .021, .023, .022 grm. The smallest quantity required 
to arrest the vital reactions, when introduced in one dose, was 
of BezO:, .088 grm; of AlzOs3, .016 grm; showing a marked 
increase in the physiological action of these substances with the 
increase of their atomic weights. This, I believe, is the first 
time that physiological reactions have been used to throw light 
on the chemical properties of a substance. Should, however, 
the carbon compounds follow the same laws in their physio- 
logical reactions as the inorganic elements, living matter must 
offer a valuable reagent in their investigation. The recent ex- 
periments of Messrs. McKendrie and Dewar, published in the 
twenty-third volume of the Proceedings of the Royal Society, 
certainly indicate that such may be the case, as in experimenting 
with the compounds of the Chinaline and Pyridine groups, it 
was found that the physiological action became stronger in going 
from the lower to the higher members of the series. They also 
observed that, in the Pyridine group, where the base became 
doubled by condensation, not only was the physiological action 
more intense, but its character was completely altered, agreeing 
with the salts of iron, with which analogous changes take place, 
both in the character and intensity of their physiological action, 
when the molecule is doubled in the change from the ferrous to 
the ferric salts. [See ‘Journal of Anatomy and Physiology,’ 
vol. 3, p. 24.| 
