ACIPENSER HUSO. 



remedy, but the experience of modern medicine has demon- 

 strated it to be worthless as a remedy. It is useful for 

 forming sticking-plaster, and it is also used for making gela- 

 tine capsules for copaiva. 



As a nutrient, a solution of isinglass, acidulated with lemon- 

 juice, and, when it is admissible, flavored with wine, is a very 

 proper and agreeable food for the convalescent; but it is 

 much less nutritive than the muscular parts of animals, and 

 also less easily digested. In animal broths, gelatine is com- 

 bined with oil, and if it can be regarded in the light of a rem- 

 edy, it is in this form, in which it is ordered as an enema in 

 the tenesmus of dysentery, and in ulcerations or abrasions of 

 the lower portion of the intestinal canal. 



The caviare of commerce is chiefly made from the eggs 

 of the sturgeon, which exist in such abundance as to consti- 

 tute nearly one third of the total weight. This is a very 

 common aliment in Turkey, Russia, Germany, Italy, and es- 

 pecially in Greece, and forms an important article of com- 

 merce very profitable to Russia. The flesh of the sturgeon is 

 nutritious, wholesome, and of an agreeable flavor. The fat 

 may be used as a substitute for butter or oil. 



EMPLASTRUM ADH^SIVUM ANGLICUM. Court-plaster. It is 

 made by brushing, first, a solution of isinglass, and then a 

 spirituous solution of benzoin, over black sarcenet or silk. An 

 excellent sticking-plaster, and which, when spread on white or 

 pale-colored silk, allows the surgeon to see the progress of 

 wounds, cuts, etc. 



GELATINE is found in the skin, membranes, tendons, carti" 

 lages, and bones of land animals, and the sound or swimming- 

 bladder of fishes, but not in any healthy animal fluid. It is 

 a semi-transparent, brittle substance ; it dissolves in cold wa- 

 ter, but more readily in hot water, and in cooling assumes a 

 semi-diaphanous, tremulous appearance. If in this state it be 

 agitated for some time with cold water, a complete solution 

 takes place. 



Gelatine when freed from water by evaporation, so as to 

 become brittle, is not susceptible of change, and may be kept 

 for any length of time. For medicinal use it should therefore 

 always be kept in a dry state. But when it is united with so 

 much water as to render it tremulous, it soon undergoes 

 decomposition, first becoming acid, then exhaling a fetid 

 odor, and putrefaction takes place. Exposure to the air is 



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