294 Mr. G. S. Johnson. 



curie chloride in one vessel, and this mixed extract will be described 

 as " portion C." The entire weight of flesh contributing to portion C 

 amounted to 86 Ib. 4 oz. ( = 39'22 kilograms), and the duration of expo- 

 sure to bacterial action varied from 26 to 34 hours. After standing a 

 week, the turbid liquid was filtered. Filtrate and precipitate both 

 preserved, and labelled " Portion C." Altogether, then, I succeeded 

 in working up 116 Ib. 4 oz., or 52'84 kilos., of lean muscle-fibre from 

 the cow. 



In this paper I shall describe only the results obtained from the 

 examination of the three filtrates after addition of mercuric chloride, 

 viz., portions A (exposed 7 hours to air), B (exposed 26 hours to 

 air), and C (exposed 34 hours at most). 



My endeavour has been to treat these three filtrates in exactly the 

 same way as far as possible, so as to avoid introducing any change in 

 one of them by an agency to whose influence the others were not 

 exposed. By these means I should feel justified in attributing any 

 difference between the products obtained to bacterial action upon 

 the flesh before the addition of the antiseptic mercuric chloride 

 solution. One change took place in all the three solutions, viz., the 

 very gradual separation of a white precipitate, which appeared 

 granular macroscopically, and which consisted of minute spheres of 

 perfect transparency when examined microscopically. In short, all 

 the filtrates gradually deposited a spherical mercury salt isomorphous 

 with the mercury salt of the kreatinin of urine. 



These precipitates were not finally separated by filtration until 

 the liquid had in each case ceased to deposit the spherical compound. 



The spherical precipitate was separated from portion A in April, 



1890, washed, dried at the ordinary temperature, and weighed. Its 

 weight was 44*16 grams. 



The spherical compound was separated from portion B in February, 



1891. Its weight was 28'01 grams. 



The spherical compound was separated from portion C in January, 

 1890. Its weight was 76'5 grams. 



The three filtrates from these precipitates all remained perfectly 

 clear on standing for not less than a week in each case, showing 

 that the mercuric chloride still in solution had no further power 

 to cause formation of insoluble compounds. 



It is remarkable that the precipitates from A and B, which con- 

 tain the extracts from 30 Ib. of flesh, weigh together nearly as 

 much as the entire precipitate from portion C, which is derived 

 from 86 Ib. 4 oz. of flesh. This lesser proportional weight of Hg 

 precipitate from the portion C cannot be accounted for by the delay 

 of a week in the filtration of the first precipitate by the mercuric 

 chloride, because the separation of the spherical precipitate is so 

 extremely slow in the case of the watery extract of flesh. The ex- 



