THE VITAL PRINCIPLE— THE BLOOD. 27 



fering from one another, and from their basis 

 protein, are found to present the above che- 

 mical diversities ; not because any such are 

 exhibited by the protein, their great organic 

 constituent, but because they vary in the 

 quantity of their inorganic constituents, such 

 as sulphur, phosphorus, sodium, chlorine, 

 calcium, etc., mineral elements which are not 

 contained in pure protein. It would thus seem 

 that the varying quantities of these inorganic 

 materials, in albumen, fibrin, and casein, are 

 the influential causes of their respective physical 

 qualities. 



We have said that chyme is acid, and the 

 chyle alkaline ; and we have stated that from 

 the salt of the blood, chlorine, or muriatic acid, 

 is disengaged, as Dr. Prout supposes, by the 

 immediate agency of galvanism ; for he regards 

 the principal digestive organs ns a kind of 

 galvanic apparatus, of which the mucous mem- 

 brane of the stomach may be considered as the 

 acid, or positive pole ; while the liver, or hepai ic 

 system, may, on the same view, be considered 

 as the alkaline, or negative pole ; and he is of 

 opinion that the greater part of the soda re- 

 maining in the blood, after the disengagement 

 of the acid, is probably directed to the liver, 

 and is elicited with bile in the duodenum, 

 where it is again brought into union with the 

 acid which had been previously separated from 

 it. This view " illustrates the importance of 

 common salt in the animal economy, and seems 

 to explain in a satisfactory manner that 



