Miscellanies. 343 



liant metallic ring, which is more characteristic than in any other sub- 

 stance, and the smell like that of garlic (by the volatilization of the 

 metallic arsenic) which is still more remarkable and peculiar than its 

 lustre ; then we can, with certainty and a safe conscience, declare be- 

 fore the court and before God, that the individual who has perished 

 by the use of such materials, has been poisoned by arsenic. 



Remarks. — In the medico-juridical case, in June of last summer, 

 in which I had the honor to assist Dr. Hare, in Philadelphia, we pur- 

 sued the subject as above described, and succeeded perfectly. The 

 use of the nitrate of silver, and ammoniated nitrate of silver, on that 

 occasion being attended with some ambiguity, led me to further inves- 

 tigation, and I now conclude from a number of experiments which I 

 have undertaken, though not with the poisoned contents of a body 

 but with an arsenical solution, that phosphoric acid, which may easily 

 be contained in the stomach and even remain in it after the treatment 

 with nitric acid, is the only substance preventing the effect of the 

 nitrate of silver. 



MISCELLANIES. 



(domestic and foreign.) 



1. The Author's Explanatory JVotice of the Elements of Chem- 

 istry, IN THE ORDER OF THE LeCTURES GIVEN IN YaLE COL- 

 LEGE. 



This work, some time since announced through this Journal, is 

 now nearly finished. 



It is designed, as a companion to the lectures named in the title, 

 which are given to the medical students, and to the senior and junior 

 classes of the college ;* usually about two hundred and fifty persons. 



*My attention was first called to the subject, by a vote of the classes of 1815, com- 

 municated by a joint committee, requesting me to furnish a guide, to accompany the 

 lectures. I consented to make the attempt, and began to sketch and execute my 

 plan; but, many circumstances, (with the statement of which, it is unnecessary to 

 trouble the reader) conspired to impede and to stop my progress, until two or three 

 years since, when the design was I'evived. The book was announced for one vol- 

 ume, and to be finished within a year ; but, notwithstanding my unceasing efforts to 

 condense the matter, and to complete the work, I have not been able to bring it, ei- 

 ther as to time or extent, within the limits originally proposed. 



