150 ON THE ALKALINE MATTER IN SERUM &C. 



fcquent part of the investigation, the deficiency seems to 

 have been perceived and acknowledged ; but, if so, it will 

 not be an easy task to justify the publication of perhaps an 

 inaccurate analytical statement in pppositio« to my experi- 

 raents, which have not been refuted. 



2. Of the fluid of hydrocephalus internus. 



•n u7JfluW*of ^ ^^^ S'"''""^ ^^ *^^ ^'^^^"^ matter of this fluid consisted- 



hydrocephalus of cubic crystals, mixed with spicularand opaque globules. 



internus. The assertion is several times made, that the spicular crys- 



tals and opaque globules were carbonate -of soda, and that 

 mostof the cubes were muriate of soda, but some of the 

 smaller ones were found to be muriate of potash. The 

 proofs for the assertion are from the two reagents T em- 

 ployed in the same inquiry, namely, tartaric acid, and pla- 

 tina solution, foi: the potash ; and " the carbonate of soda 

 was identified not only by tests indicative of the absence of 

 potash, but also by its forming rhomboidal instead of pris- 

 matic crystals when treated with nitric acid," Now 1 ap- 



Remarkson prehend our judges will deem this evidence unsatisfactory, 

 '*• and that much more decisive proofs will be reasonably ex- 



pected. I beg permission to ask, whether or not the 

 laborious experiments upon a large scale, which I instituted 

 to exhibit evidence of the exclusive existence of the potash 

 alkali, arc to be disprove^! by the rhomboidal figure of the 

 crystals in place of prismatic, seen perhaps only by a mao-- 

 mfying glass, and in the quantity of a grain or two dispersed 

 over a comparatively extensive surface ; and whether or not 

 the absence of potash, indicated by tests operating upon 

 minute quantities, is unequivocal evidence, and ought to 

 counterpoise experiments with quantities affording products 

 of which no doubt can be entertained. I do not questioa 

 the accuracy, but I hope it is proper to take a farther ob- 

 jection against the competency of the experiment asserted 

 for the presence of soda, and absence of potash. On the most 

 important point, which occurred in the inquiry-, the kind of 

 alkali existing in the fluids, I do conceive, that more expe- 

 riments, and particularly detailed, are necessary to effect 

 the disproof of what I have published, and to command as- 

 lent that soda, and not potash, is present. Is it satis- 

 factory 



