108 REPORT— 1839. 



fluid emitted from the stomach, and igniting the residue, he had 

 obtained, by crystallization, fine crystals of carbonate of soda. The 

 presence of these, however, he ascribed either to the decomposition of 

 common salt by the process, or to the previous existence of lactate of 

 soda in the fluid. He was more inclined to attribute it to the former 

 source, because the quantity of crystals was so very considerable. 

 Dr. Thomson stated that the ejection of these fluids from the stomach 

 was much more common than was usually imagined, as out of forty or 

 fifty patients admitted daily at the Blenheim-street Dispensary, in 

 London, he frequenlty found one or two affected with such symptoms. 



On the Red Appearance on the Internal Coat of Arteries. 

 By Joseph Hodgson, F.R.S, 



This appearance, he stated, did not depend on inflammation in every 

 instance, and should be carefully distinguished from it ; it might occur 

 extensively, or in small patches, or in different parts of the same sub- 

 ject, presenting different shades of colour. It was found in subjects 

 of all ages, in healthy as well as morbid coats, in the lining membrane 

 of the heart, and of the veins, but less frequently in the latter. It 

 may be found when blood is present in those cavities after death, or 

 where they are completely empty. Mr. Hodgson related the experi- 

 ments of Laennec and Andral, which proved that this red appearance 

 might be communicated after death by immersing the vessels in blood. 

 As to the efficient cause, he stated that it might proceed from imbi- 

 bition, in the same manner as we find the neighbouring membranes 

 stained with bile from the gall-bladder and its ducts ; the first changes 

 towards decomposition and putrefaction might allow of it more readily. 

 Some writers look on it in every instance as the result of inflam- 

 mation ; slight modifications of vitality may permit its occurrence 

 during life, as we find it, where chronic inflammation has existed, 

 giving rise to deposits of an atheromatous matter. When dependent 

 on inflammation, it will be found affecting the inner coat only ; but 

 when on other causes, it will often pervade the elastic or middle coat 

 as well as the serous. Finally, he stated that it might be found de- 

 pending on the CO- existence of those causes which were capable of 

 producing it singly. 



On the Respiration of Deteriorated Atmospheres. 

 By C. T. CoATHUPE. 



The experiments were instituted to determine whether the injurious 

 effects which have followed the respiration of charcoal vapours had 

 depended on carbonic acid, as was generally thought, or on the specific 

 agency of some other volatile product. The volatile products of the 

 combination of charcoal he stated to be as follows: — Carbonate of 

 ammonia, hydrochlorate of ammonia, sulphate of ammonia, volatile 



