186 Quarterly Abstract of European Chemistry. 



reaction just mentioned, hydrogen escapes from the acid as well as 

 from the hydride. The composition of this body is 



TT ' 1 .000' \ corresponding to Cu^ H''. 

 The copper combines with 1200 times its volume of hydrogen. 



Tra7\sformation of Fibrine in Butyric Acid^ by L. Figuiee, (Compt. 

 Rend. April, 1844.) — By leaving fibrine in contact with the air during 

 the heat of summer, it liquefies completely at the end of eight days, and 

 the results of the putrefaction are carbonic, acetic, and butyric acids, 

 and ammonia. Butyric acid can also be formed from fibrine by heating 

 it along with potash and lime to the temperature of 160° or 180° C. 



On the comparative Composition of Recent and Fossil Bones, by J. 

 MiDDLETON, (Lon. and Ed. Phil. Mag. July, 1844, p. 14.) — The whole 

 drift of this article is to prove that the accumulation of fluorine in fossil 

 bones has been caused by infiltration ; it being shown that fluorine ex- 

 ists in the deposits from various waters : as for instance, deposit of a 

 chloride of lime vat ; deposit in a water-conduit pipe of a coal mine ; 

 stalaclitic deposit from the old red sandstone ; deposit in a wooden pipe 

 for conducting water from a building ; deposit from a kettle used solely 

 for boiling water; deposit from a portion of a vein of sulphate of ba- 

 ryta from the old red sandstone above mentioned ; fossil wood from 

 Egypt fossilized by infiltration of carbonate of lime ; fossil wood from 

 Egypt fossilized by infiltration of silica. These statements are follow- 

 ed by numerical results of various analyses of fossil bones, most of 

 them containing as much as 11 per cent, of fluoride of calcium. In 

 recent shells there was found 0"79 per cent, of fluoride of calcium. In 

 a fragment of a Greek skull 2000 years old, 5'04 per cent, fluoride of 

 calcium. In the skull of an Egyptian mummy, 2"35 per cent, fluoride 

 of calcium. Skull recovered from the wreck of the Royal George, 

 1-86 per cent, fluoride of calcium. Recent skull, 1*99 per cent, fluof 

 ride of calcium. The skull of a foetus six and a half months old con- 

 tains as much as an adult's. The conclusions of Mr. Middleton are, that 

 water drank is the source of fluorine in recent bones, and deposition 

 from water the cause of its accumulation in fossil bones. He rejects 

 altogether the hypothesis that the source of fluorine in animals may be 

 their food, but with what justice I cannot see ; for if all waters contain 

 fluoride of calcium, and leave this salt in the bony structure of animals 

 using it, most surely it must be left in the fibres of plants that imbibe 

 the same, which being food of animals, may furnish to these latter 

 what it has accumulated from the water. 



On the occurrence of Fluorine in recent Bones, by C. Datjbeny, 

 (Lon. and Ed. Phil. Mag. 1844, p. 122.) — It would appear that the ex- 



