

95 



secured, haemorrhage of dark pitchy blood took place from a vessel 

 which gave way through the action of the alkali upon it. This was 

 very soon checked, and the animal lived, although in a comatose 

 state, for about an hour. Upon examining the liver after death, it 

 was found that it had not been uniformly penetrated by the alkali, 

 and that the large veins were plugged up with coagulated or solidified 

 blood, which had arrested the portal circulation ; I have never ob- 

 served a similar solidification of the blood produced by the use of the 

 carbonate of soda. My analysis of the liver a short time after death 

 indicated the presence of both hepatine and sugar. It was quite 

 evident from the appearance of the organ, that much of its tissue had 

 not been reached by the injection, and therefore escaped the action 

 of the alkali. 



It having been thus shown that a rapid disappearance of hepatine 

 may be occasioned by the presence of the carbonate of soda in the 

 liver during life, it remains now to determine the nature of the pro- 

 cess of disappearance, and to discover the material into which the 

 hepatine is transformed. I am not in a position as yet to enter 

 satisfactorily into a discussion of this question ; but, if I cannot state 

 how and into what the hepatine is thus changed if I cannot at 

 present speak definitely upon the positive side of the question, I, 

 however, can advert to its negative aspect, and say what the process 

 is not ; and, in following this course, I am adopting a rational pro- 

 ceeding, for it is from a consideration of the known that we are 

 placed in the best position for making a profitable advance towards 

 the unknown. 



As hepatine is a body presenting such characteristic reactions, and 

 so easily susceptible of recognition, we can have no difficulty in 

 deciding that it is really absent or transformed in the circumstances 

 stated, and that it is not merely masked or concealed by the material 

 employed for injection. It is the property of hepatine to be thrown 

 down as a while precipitate by spirit. The alkalies and carbonated 

 alkalies, for certain, do not prevent this precipitation from taking 

 place. A solution of hepatine presents a most striking lactescence ; 

 and by this character, used with precaution, not only may the ques- 

 tion of its presence or absence be decided, but, when present, its 

 relative amount may be pretty accurately judged of in different speci- 

 mens. With iodine it gives a strong deep-red coloration. Lastly, 



