Miscellanis. 369 
>. 
pear that electricity had any part in the production of this singular — 
phenomenon. An attack of bilious fever, in the course of two 
months, destroyed the cause, and the effect did not return after his 
recovery.— Rev. Encyc. Juin, 1831. 
27. Gelatine of Bones.—A memoir presented to the French Acad- 
emy, by M. Donné having thrown some doubts upon the wholesome- 
ness of Gelatine, M. Darcet made the following summary. Butch- 
ers’ meat contains per one hundred pounds at a medium. 
Dry meat, - - - - - 24 
Water, - - - - - - 64 
Bones, - - - ~ - : 15 
Total, 100 
Bones contain per hundred : 
Earthy matter, - - - - =e OO 
Gelatine, - ~ - - - - 30 
[Tier phere sie apiece anne i Sag 
- 100 
Thus, the 15 parts of bones in butchers’ meat may furnish 6 parts 
of pure animal substance, and therefore 100 lbs. of meat, which 
commonly yield but 24 of alimentary substance, may furnish 30 lbs. 
if care be taken to extract the whole. It is obvious, therefore, that 
four head of cattle may supply as much nutriment as is now obtained 
from five. This is an enormous waste; and to prove the wholesome- 
ness of gelatine, M. Darcet states, that a committee of the faculty of 
medicine, composed of Leroux, Dubois, Pelletan, Dumeril and Vau- 
quelin, distributed gelatine to forty patients, and reported, Ist, that 
it was not only a great improvement as an article of diet, but econom- 
ical, and that to an extent which ought not to be overlooked; 2d, that 
soup made with gelatine is at least as agreeable as the ordinary soup 
of hospitals; 3d, that gelatine is not only nourishing and easy of di- 
gestion, but very salutary, and is attended with no unpleasant effects 
on the animal economy. In the hospital St. Louis, there is an appa- 
ratus which furnishes 900 rations of broth per day. It has been in 
operation twenty months, and has supplied 550800 rations of gela- 
tinous: solution, and various reports made to the administration testify 
to its value. At the Hotel Dieu 443650 rations have been supplied, 
