SUMMARY OF INORGANIC PRINCIPLES. 47 



Hydrochlorate of Ammonia, XH 3 , HC1. 



This substance has simply been indicated by chemists as 

 existing in the gastric juice of ruminants, the saliva, tears, 

 and urine. Some chemists make a rearrangement of its par- 

 ticles, calling it chloride of ammonium, when instead of 

 NH 3 , HC1, it would be NH 4 C1 ; but as the ammonium is 

 hypothetical, the name we have used seems more appropriate. 



It is discharged in the urine, in which it exists, according 

 to Simon, 1 in the proportion of 0*41 parts per 1,000. Its 

 origin and function are unknown. 



Summary. A review of the functions of the individual 

 inorganic constituents of the body, excluding the gases, will 

 show that they may be divided into two groups : one, which 

 is composed of those substances, existing particularly in the 

 solids and semi-solids, which are in a condition of molecular 

 union with organic substances, merge their identity, as it 

 were, into them., and become necessary constituents of the 

 tissues and the other, composed of substances which rather 

 regulate, by their influence in endosmosis, or otherwise, the 

 nutritive processes, do not seem to be indispensable constituents 

 of the tissues, but have rather an accessory office to perform 

 in the function of nutrition. 



At the head of the first group we may place water ; the 

 absence of which involves destruction of the properties of 

 the tissues, and even of the organic elements. 



At the head of the second group we may place common 

 salt ; which is absolutely necessary to the functions of nutri- 

 tion, though it does not seem to form an indispensable ele- 

 ment of the tissues. 



The first group, as we should naturally expect, forms a 

 considerable proportion of the body, and the articles compo- 

 sing it are discharged in small quantity ; as in the case of 



1 SIMON, Animal Chemistry, with Reference to the Physiology and Pathology 

 of Man, Philadelphia, 1846, p. 403. 



