ON MATTER AND FOECE. 83 



add different amounts of alkali and acid ; and 

 even in a few minutes, without raising the 

 fluids to the temperature of the body, you will 

 see that the most alkaline is most rapidly 

 oxidised, and that the least alkaline or acid 

 fluid will have the oxidation retarded or alto- 

 gether stopped. 



That alkalies and acids have the same action 

 in the body, and that they can promote or 

 retard oxidation, must be determined by direct 

 experiments ; but meanwhile these views will 

 lead us to think more of the alkalescence of 

 the blood, and of the extent of the evil that 

 acidity may occasion, even if we do not use 

 sugar and acids more freely in inflammations 

 and fevers, and urge our alkalies with greater 

 perseverance where fatty and gouty thickenings 

 and deposits exist. 



If time permitted, I might here mention the 

 wonderful experiments on the production of 

 acute fatty disease of the liver, spleen, heart, 

 etc., by phosphorus-poison. The formation of 

 phosphoric acid in the textures probably is the 

 direct cause of the accumulation of fat by 

 arrest of chemical action. 



Inseparable from the action of oxygen in the 



