56 



position, that they consist of an organized carbon, 

 seems not a fortunate one. He also found, that 

 the thinner these expectorations were, the more 

 salts they contained, and the sooner they at- 

 tracted moisture from the air ; but this latter cir- 

 cumstance was probably only a consequence of 

 the smaller quantity of fixed matters, whereby 

 those constituent parts, which could attract hu- 

 midity, were surrounded. When, during his 

 experiments, he found the syrupy extract, which, 

 in the analysis of blood, flesh, milk, and urine, 

 I have shewn to be a composition of muriate of 

 soda, alkaline lactate, and some peculiar animal 

 matters, he considered it as an animal oxid, 

 which possessed the quality common to acids, of 

 neutralizing a certain portion of alkali so com- 

 pletely, that it was no longer discovered by the 

 re-agents. In the ashes of the burnt pus, he 

 found, besides the common constituents, also 

 silica and oxid of iron. 



The loss which the humours of the body daily 

 suffer by excretions, as also that which the blood 

 must experience, from the reproduction of parts, 

 is day by day compensated by the food which is 

 eaten. Chemistry has been much occupied in 

 explaining the processes, which take place in the 



