132 



THE AMERICAN MONTHLY 



[July, 



Any chemist, by inspection of Mar- 

 shall's process, or even later im- 

 provements in modes of manufac- 

 turing this preparation, can see 

 that the oxide must be destroyed. 

 In fact a precipitation of visible 

 metal occurs, the weight of which 

 is subtracted, plus its oxygen 

 weight, from the original weight of 

 the mercuric oxide used, and the in- 

 visible remainder is assumed to be 

 mercuric oxide in oleic acid. 

 Squibb's label on the bottles con- 

 taining the oleate reads : "This bottle 

 contains 6 per cent." (or some other 

 percentage, as the case may be) " of 

 mercuric oxide in oleic acid." By 

 decanting off the liquid, further 

 precipitation of the metal, as metal, 

 can be found, and under the micro- 

 scope beautifully uniform, minute 

 globules of metallic mercury in 

 countless numbers may be seen sus- 

 pended in the oleic acid. A me- 

 chanical mixture of oleic acid and 

 minutely divided mercury, I found, 

 presented very nearly the same ap- 

 pearance, the globules wanting in 

 uniformity, which I think can be 

 remedied by permitting the mixture 

 to stand some days, allowing the 

 larger globules to precipitate. The 

 settling may prove to be the cause 

 of the minuteness and uniformity 

 of size in Squibb's oleate. So, in- 

 stead of a mercuric oxide being in- 

 troduced into the system by inunc- 

 tions with this preparation, a simple 

 mercurial, reduced to such before- 

 hand, is thus administered and as 

 such it acts. A physician of this 

 city had several applications of the 

 oleate to his axillae, and soon after, 

 while being dry-cupped, called the 

 attention of Dr. J. S. Jewell (who 

 was treating him for ataxia) to the 

 presence of mercury globules visible 



m the cupping glass. 



* * * * ^ * * 



In its action as a parasiticide there 

 can be no doubt that the small glo- 



bules, in some cases, when sucked 

 by parasites into their tubules, 

 cause fatal occlusion ; and in other 

 cases, by external contact, effec- 

 tually asphyxiate them by choking 

 up their stigmata and tracheae. 

 Mercury absorbed by plants doubt- 

 less kills them by tilling up the 

 cellular spaces necessary for the 

 passage of nutrient liquids. Hales 

 found that "during the bleeding 

 season a vine can push up its sap in 

 a glass tube to a height of twenty- 

 one feet above the stump of an am- 

 putated branch." Obviously an 

 interference with this process would 

 be fatal to the life of the plant, and 

 no one can doubt that such a force 

 is capable of pushing the suspended 

 globules well up into the branches. 

 The anthelmintic effects of mer- 

 cury may be the same in its effects 

 upon other invertebrates and some 

 of the lesser vertebrates. 



The Secretary of our Society, 

 Mr. E. B. Stuart, the chemist and 

 microscopist, kindly aided me in 

 preparing specimens for exhibition, 

 and our conjoint observations led 

 me to the following conclusions : 



1st. Mercury globules under 

 various modes of illumination, can 

 be advantageously used as test ob- 

 jects, comparing them with air- 

 bubbles of glycerin, fat, oil, and 

 pus-corpuscles. It cannot be as- 

 sumed that this subject has been 

 exhaustively written up ; the re- 

 semblance in many cases are pro- 

 vokingly identical, particulary as 

 to multiple reflection from globular 

 surfaces. Reflection from the face 

 of the objective, or cover glass will 

 often cause an opaque object to 

 simulate an appearance of translu- 

 lucency. 



2d. The microscope has been too 

 much neglected by chemists, phy- 

 sicians and pharmacists. It will in 

 many cases render unneccessary, te- 

 dious and expensive chemical and 



