88 TRANSVERSELY STRIPED MUSCULAR FIBRES. 



obtained free from blood and transudations, and that, conse- 

 quently, the proportion of soda in the muscular juice would be 

 even smaller if we could in any way exclude the admixture 

 of blood. 



A similar consideration presents itself to our notice when we 

 proceed to estimate the quantity of phosphoric acid in the muscular 

 juice. R. Weber* found from 45 to 47ft of phosphoric acid in the 

 ash of horses' flesh, and about 2ft in that of the serum of the 

 blood of the same animal. The phosphoric acid in the muscular 

 juice is principally combined with potash, and only slightly with 

 lime and magnesia. Chevreul found that the ash, yielded by a 

 decoction of flesh, contained 81ft of salts soluble in water, and 

 R. Weber has more recently estimated their amount at from 79 to 

 80ft. Liebig found in the ash of the muscular juice of oxen, 

 horses, foxes, and deer, bibasic and tribasic alkaline phosphates, 

 and in that of hens a small quantity of monobasic alkaline phos- 

 phate, in addition to the bibasic. The ash contains, therefore, in 

 every case, more phosphoric acid than is required for the forma- 

 tion of the neutral phosphates of the alkalies. The conclusion to 

 which we are led, that the muscular juice, when fresh, contains acid 

 phosphates of the alkalies, gains confirmation from the fact that a 

 large quantity of free lactic acid is contained in the fresh juice. 

 We shall consider more fully, under the head of the " Metamor- 

 phoses of Animal Matter," the interesting views advanced by Liebig 

 in connection with these relations. 



R. Weber never found more than 7 5- of chloride of sodium in 

 the ash of the muscular juice of the horse, but nearly as much as 

 73ft in that of the blood-serum of the same animal. 



The alkaline sulphates occur only in mere traces in the mus- 

 cular fluid, and Liebig refers these salts to the admixture of blood. 



Whilst the phosphate of lime is present in the blood in far 

 larger quantities than the phosphate of magnesia^ the reverse holds 

 good in the muscular juice ; in the muscular juice of the hen, for 

 instance, according to Liebig, the ratio between these salts of lime 

 and magnesia is as 10 : 39*2 ; and R. Weber found a similar ratio in 

 the ash of horses' flesh. 



Schlossbergerf and von Bibra,J who have made comparative 

 analyses of the flesh of different animals, have obtained the same 

 results as Berzelius and Liebig for the amount of muscular fibre 



* Pogg. Ann. Bd. 74, S. 91-115. 



f Ann. d. Ch. u. Pharm. Bd. 72, S. 116-120. 



t Arch. f. phys. Heilk. Bd. 4, S. 536-577. 



