60 Royal Society : — Dr. Bence Jones on the Rate of 



1 . Three methods of analysis were followed, according as much or 

 little lithium was present : first, simply touching the substance with 

 a red-hot platinum-wire ; secondly, extracting the substance with 

 water ; thirdly, incinerating the substance and treating it with sul- 

 phuric acid, and exhausting with absolute alcohol. * of a 

 grain of chloride of lithium in distilled water could be detected, and 

 TTooboo t0 2.000,000 of chloride of lithium in urine ' 



2. On Rate of Passage into the Textures through the Stomach, 



Even in a quarter of an hour three grains of chloride of lithium, 

 given on an empty stomach, may diffuse into all the vascular textures, 

 and into the cartilage of the hip-joint and the aqueous humour of the 

 eye. In very young and very small guinea-pigs which have received the 

 same quantity of lithium, in thirty or thirty-two minutes it may be 

 found even in the lens ; but in an old pig in t^is time it will have got 

 no further than the aqueous humour. If the stomach be empty, in 

 an hour the lithium may be very evident in the outer part of the lens, 

 and very faintly traceable in the inner part ; but if the stomach be 

 full of food, the lithium does not in an hour reach the lens. Even 

 in two hours and a half lithium may be more marked in the outer than 

 in the inner part of the lens. In four hours the lithium may be in 

 every part of the lens ; but less evidence of its presence will be obtained 

 there than from the aqueous humour. In eight hours, even, the cen- 

 tre of the lens may show less than the outer part. In twenty-six hours 

 the diffusion had taken place equally throughout every part of the 

 lens. If the lithium is injected under the skin, in ten minutes it may 

 be found in the crystalline lens, and even in four minutes, after the 

 injection of three grains of chloride, the lithium may be in the bile, 

 urine, and aqueous humour of the eye. 



3. On the Rate of Passage out of the Textures. 



After two grains of chloride of lithium, in six hours the lithium 

 was more distinct in the outer than in the inner part of the lens. In 

 twenty-four hours no difference in the different parts of the lens was 

 detectable. In forty-eight hours no difference was observed. In 

 ninety-six hours no lithium was detectable in the lens or cartilage of 

 the hip-joint. The urine showed lithium very distinctly even in one 

 drop. 



After one grain of chloride of lithium, in five hours and a half the 

 lithium was more distinct in the outer than in the inner part of 

 the lens. In twenty-four hours and a half there was no difference 

 throughout the lens. In forty-eight hours the watery extract of the 

 lens showed faint traces of lithium. In seventy-two hours and a 

 half (three days) the alcoholic extract of the lens showed no lithium. 

 The urine still showed lithium distinctly in one drop, and it con- 

 tinued to be found in the watery or alcoholic extract for twenty- 

 one days. 



After half a grain of chloride of lithium, in three hours and fifty 

 minutes traces of lithium could be found in the lens, and for thirty- 

 seven or thirty-eight days traces of lithium could be found in the urine. 



