268 Scientific Intelligence. 



regarding it as a compound of oxyd of glycyl with nitrous acid, pro- 

 posed for it the name of glonoine from the symbols of those substances 

 with the termination ine ; this is objectionable as tending from a simi- 

 larity of termination to confound it with the alkaloids, but may serve 

 until farther investigations shall have determined its composition and its 

 real nature. When taken in small doses its effect is an almost immedi- 



ate acceleration of the pulse with giddiness and a sense of fullness and 

 pressure in the frontal region, followed by a severe headache, which is 

 often confined to the coronal region, sometimes to one side of the head 

 and attended with tvvitchings of the muscles of the face, throbbing of 

 the temporal arteries, and sometimes a difficulty in articulation. The 

 pain is greatly aggravated by motion and on shaking the head is almost 

 intolerable. These symptoms subside spontaneously in a short time 

 and are often succeeded by a diminished pulse and a feeling of soreness 

 and heaviness about the head. 



The most extraordinary feature connected with these observations is 

 the very minute quantity required to produce the effect described. In 

 the experiments of Dr. Hering one drop of the glonoine was placed in 

 a bottle to which 5000 globules of milk-sugar were added, and by agita- 

 tion the whole were impregnated. The number of these globules requir- 

 ed to produce the symptoms above described is from 5 to 20, 50 and in 

 some individuals 200. The majority of persons experience the symp- 

 toms in a marked degree, after having taken 20z=z^^\h of a grain, and 

 many susceptible subjects are painfully affected by 5= TT fojflh of a 

 grain. The lower animals are less sensible to its action ; ten drops 

 were required to destroy a frog; four drops given to a cat produced 

 convulsions, but the animal recovered ; another cat was killed by three 

 drops. The strongest dose taken by a man has been y^th of a drop. 

 Common coffee is found to be an antidote to the unpleasant effects of 

 an over dose. 



A substance of such unexampled potency in its action upon the hu- 

 man system, -can scarcely be without use in the treatment of disease, 

 and Dr. Hering with several other of the homoeopathic physicians in 

 Philadelphia is at present occupied in proving it by a careful examina- 

 tion of the various symptoms produced by it under different circum- 

 stances and in different doses. T. S. Hunt. * 

 Montreal, May 20th, 1849. 



5. On the Action of Alkalies and Acids upon Aldehyde ; by H. Wei- 

 denbusch, (Ann. der Chim. und Pharm., in Chern. Gaz., Jan., 1849.)- 

 That aldehyde was revivified by alkalies, — blackened by sulphuric acid 

 and converted into acetic acid by nitric acid — was the sum total of our 

 knowledge on this subject until the present investigation, the results of 

 which are as follows. 



Potash in acting upon aldehyde beside producing the ordinary resin, 

 gives rise to an irritating odor due to a thick yellow oil with an odor of 

 cinnamon. This oil by its rapid oxydation produces a resin different 

 from common aldehyde resin, and containing a large per cent, of oxy- 

 gen ; at the same time the action of alkalies seems to form from the al- 

 dehyde, acetic and formic acids. 



Action of Acids. — Aldehyde with half its bulk of water and a trace 

 of sulphuric or nitric acid, on cooling to 32°, separates into fine crys- 



