502 LIQUID PARTS OF ANIMALS. 



distilled in an earthen-ware retort, gradually heated to white- 

 ness, furnished the following products: 1. A great deal of 

 colourless water holding in solution carbonate of ammonia, a good 

 deal of prussiate of ammonia, and traces of muriate of ammonia ; 

 2. A transparent oil slightly yellow ; 3. A fluid blood- red oil ; 

 4. A thick blackish-brown oil ; 5. Crystals of carbonate and 

 prussiate of ammonia ; 6. A quantity of phosphorus ; 7. A small 

 quantity of carbonic acid and heavy inflammable air. The char- 

 coal remaining in the retort amounts to 7^ parts, and contains 

 no disengaged phosphoric acid. 



When milt is triturated in distilled water, a white opaque li- 

 quid is obtained, which does not become transparent though pas- 

 sed through the filter. When the liquid is boiled, an albuminous 

 matter coagulates ; and if the residuary liquid be evaporated 

 sufficiently, it gelatinizes ; a proof that it contains gelatin. Al- 

 cohol digested on milt dissolves a substance which possesses the 

 properties of animal soap. When it is- separated, the milt be- 

 comes dry and harsh to the feel ; a proof that its unctuosity was 

 owing to the presence of the animal soap. 



Thus it appears that milt contains albumen, gelatin, phospho- 

 rus, phosphate of lime, phosphate of magnesia, and muriate of 

 ammonia. 



CHAPTER XIV. 



OF SYNOVIA. 



WITHIN the capsular ligament of the different joints there is 

 contained a peculiar liquor, intended evidently to lubricate the 

 parts and to facilitate their motion. This liquid is known among 

 anatomists by the name of synovia* 



The chemical constitution of this liquid has been but imper- 

 fectly ascertained. It is mucilaginous like the white of egg, 



* The word synovia (from tuv and o, probably from its resemblance to 

 the white of an egg), is said to have been first used by Paracelsus, and to have 

 signified the juice which nourishes the different parts of the body. I find the 

 word synophia used by him in that sense. See his Scholia in libros paragra- 

 phorum ; de Gutta. Opera Paracelsi, i. 547. Geneva edition. 



8 



