TRANSACTIONS OP THE SECTIONS. 257 



odour. So unpleasant indeed is this oil, that there are very few persons who can 

 take more than three or four tablespoonfuls in a day, which at the most will only 

 yield 2ozs. of carbon to the system, towards 13 - 9-10oz. required, leaving a fearful 

 balance against the sick man. Fortunately, however, the theory is better than the 

 remedy commonly used, and the sick people of Australia are singularly favoured in 

 having in their own territory an herbivorous cetaceous animal, the Dugong (Halicore 

 Australia), inhabiting the rivers and bays of the eastern coast/ Irom Moreton Bay to 

 Cape York, from which an oil can be procured possessing all the properties required 

 for this purpose. 



So sweet and palatable is the oil procured from the Dugong, that in its pure atate 

 it may be taken without disagreeing with the most sensitive stomach, and also used 

 in a variety of ways in the process of cooking ; so that this potent restorative remedy 

 may be taken as food, and many ounces consumed almost imperceptibly every day, 

 and thus furnish the system with the requisite amount of carbon for its daily 

 oxidation. 



Believing Elaiopathy, or oil administration, to be a rational mode of treatment, and 

 dissatisfied with the nauseous train-oil- like fuel usually supplied to our sickly fur- 

 naces, the author made diligent search for a substitute, and now unhesitatingly com- 

 municates, after testing the powers of the discovery for nearly five years in a great 

 variety of chronic disorders, that the Dugong oil is one of the most potent and re- 

 liable remedies he has ever met with in the treatment of chronic disease. 



Laboratory Memoranda. By J. S. Brazier, F.C.S., Fordyce Lecturer in 



Marischal College, Aberdeen. 



On the quantitative estimation of the soluble combustible contents of a water. 



This item of an ordinary analysis of a water, which commonly passes under the 

 general description of " organic matter," is frequently obtained as follows: — by eva- 

 porating a portion of the water to dryness, to weigh the residue, and afterwards to 

 heat it to low redness till it ceases to lose weight, when the difference from its 

 former weight would be considered the " organic matter." 



In burning oft' the combustible portion of the total dry evaporated contents, two 

 chief sources of error may be observed : —first, carbonic acid is apt to be expelled 

 from the incombustible mineral contents by the action of the combustible matter 

 under a high temperature, the residue giving an alkaline reaction to test paper; 

 second, when a very high temperature is applied in order to burn off the combustible 

 portion, some of the incombustible mineral portion is volatilized, and thus comes to 

 be erroneously reckoned as part of the combustible soluble contents. In consequence 

 of these observations, the following method of procedure is adopted by the author. 



The evaporating basin is of platinum, about 600 grains in weight, and about a quar- 

 ter of a pint in capacity. The measure of water evaporated in each trial is one-fifth 

 of a gallon ( = 14,000 grains). To prevent any minute increase of weight from fused 

 adhesions to the outside of the basin during long exposure to flame, heat is applied 

 by means of a water-bath. The evaporated mass is dried in a Taylor's hot-air bath 

 at a temperature of 230° Fahr., and is then weighed. The nett weight gives the total 

 soluble contents, both combustible and incombustible. A temperature of 260°, as 

 often as it was tried, gave no differance in the weight. 



The scorching is produced by healing the outside of the evaporating basin by the 

 flame of a spirit-lamp, kept as weak as can burn off the combustible matter. The 

 evaporated mass, after being scorched, is moistened with a solution of pure carbonic 

 acid in distilled water, is dried anew in a Taylor's air-bath at 230° Fahr., and is 

 weighed a second time. The nett weight gives the incombustible (or mineral) 

 soluble contents alone, which on being subtracted from the former nett weight of 

 both combustible and incombustible, left the combustible alone. 



The heat of the spirit-lamp is preferable on account of the variation which is so 

 frequently caused in platinum vessels by heating them over a gas-flame ; apparently 

 some carbon compound is produced, and, in proportion to the more or less perfect 

 combustion of the gas flame, the platinum dish becomes lighter or heavier, thus 

 causing an error in the weight of the contents of the dish. 



An increase in the measure of water evaporated fails to increase the accuracy of 

 1859. 17 



4 



