TO THE NERVOUS MATTER. 181 



ously inflammable phosphuretted hydrogen were disen- 

 gaged from the trough of a spring in Carlsruhe, on 

 the bottom of which fish had putrefied ; and gases 

 containing phosphorus have also been observed among 

 the products of the putrefaction of tjie brain.* 



* The curator of the museum at Geneva gave to M. Leroyer, 

 apothecary, a large quantity of spirit of wine, which had been used 

 for the preservation of fishes, and which he undertook to purify. He 

 distilled it from a mixture of chloride of calcium and quicklime, and 

 evaporated the residue in the air, over a fire. As soon as the mass 

 had acquired a certain consistence, and a higher temperature, a pro- 

 digious quantity of spontaneously inflammable phosphuretted hydro- 

 gen was disengaged. (Dumas, V. 867.) 



16 



