ORGANIC CHEMICAL PROCESSES. 57 



does not belong to the vital principle ; each trans- 

 formation is owing to a disturbance in the attrac- 

 tion of the elements of a compound, and is con- 

 sequently a purely chemical process. There is no 

 doubt, that this process takes place in another 

 form, from that of the ordinary decomposition of 

 salts, oxides, or sulphurets. But is it the fault of 

 chemistry that physiology has hitherto taken no 

 notice of this new form of chemical action? 



Physicians are accustomed to administer whole 

 ounces of borax to patients suffering under urinary 

 calculi, when it is known, that the bases of all 

 alkaline salts, formed by organic acids, are carried 

 through the urinary passages in the form of alkaline 

 carbonates capable of dissolving calculi (Wohler). 

 Is this rational ? The medical reports state, that 

 upon the Rhine, where so much cream of tartar is 

 consumed in wine, the only cases of calculous dis- 

 orders are those which are imported from other 

 districts. We know that the uric acid calculus is 

 transformed into the mulberry calculus, (which con- 

 tains oxalic acid,) when patients suffering under the 

 former exchange the town, for the country, where 

 less animal and more vegetable food is used. Are 

 all these circumstances incapable of explanation ? 



The volatile oil of the roots of valerian may be 

 obtained from the oil generated during the fer- 

 mentation of potatoes (Dumas), and the oil of the 

 Spircea ulmaria from the crystalline matter of the 

 bark of the willow. (Piria.) We are able to form 



