LIQUOR OF THE ALLANTOIS. 531 



The principles soluble in alcohol were of a brown colour ; and 

 seemed to consist in part of the lactates ; but chiefly of a pecu- 

 liar substance, having considerable resemblance in its properties 

 to the external brown parts of roasted veal. 



The liquor amnii of the cow examined by Lassaigne differed 

 somewhat in its properties from the preceding, owing probably 

 to the different periods of gestation at which it was procured. 

 It had a yellowish colour, was viscid and sensibly alkaline. The 

 constituents extracted from it by Lassaigne (not reckoning the 

 water) were the following : 



Albumen. Chloride of potassium. 



Mucus. Carbonate of soda. 



Yellow matter of bile. Phosphate of lime. 

 Common salt. 



III. Lassaigne likewise analyzed the liquor amnii of a mare, 

 and obtained from it the following substances :* 

 Mucus. Common salt. 



Albumen, (little.) Chloride of potassium. 



Osmazome. Carbonate of soda. 



Yellow matter. Phosphate of lime. 



CHAPTER XXL 



OF THE LIQUOR OF THE ALLANTOIS. 



THE foetus in the uterus is enveloped in several successive 

 membranes. The outermost is called the chorion. Below this, 

 especially in quadrupeds, is a second membrane called the al- 

 lantois ; while the third or innermost membrane is called the 

 amnios. Both the allantois and the amnios contain a quantity 

 of liquid. The characters and constituents of the liquor amnii 

 have been given in the last chapter. At present we shall treat 

 of the liquor of the allantois. 



The only chemist, so far as I know, who has turned his atten- 

 tion to this subject, is Lassaigne. In 1821, he published an ana- 

 lysis of the liquor of the allantois of the cow and the mare.f 

 Vauquelin and Buniva may have examined the liquor of the al- 



* Ann. de Cliim. et de Phys. xvii. p. 303. f Ibid. xvii. 296, 303. 



