1813.3 



and sor/ie other Anvm<il$, 



S41 



an animal matter^ which by its solvability in alcohol and waterj, 

 by its property of being precipitated by infusion of nutgalls, by 

 its reddish brown colour, its deliquescence, its taste and smell of 

 the juice of meat, ought to be regarded as identical with the 

 substance which Rouelie formerly called the saponaceous extract 

 of meat^ and to which M. Thenard has given the name of 

 osmazome. 



It is, without doubt, this substance, a portion of which 

 remains with the fatty matter obtained from the alcohol by 

 evaporation, which gives it the reddish colour, the property of 

 mixing with water, and of emitting the smell of animal matter 

 when burning. 



Sect. VII. 



Statement of the constituents of the hraln soluMe in alcohoL 



We now know the different substances separated from the 

 brain by alcohol when repeatedly digested upon it. They are, 



1. A fatty matter, white, solid, of a satin lustre, and a 

 tenacity not to be found in ordinary tallow or fat. 



2. Another fatty matter of a red colour, having less consist- 

 ence than the preceding, but which seems to differ from it only 

 in consequence of a little osmazome which remains mixed 

 with it. 



3. An animal matter of a reddish brown colour, soluble in 

 water and alcohol, forming with tannin an insoluble combina- 

 tion, having the smell and taste of the juice of meat, and which 

 is certainly the principle at present distinguished by the name of 

 osmazome. 



4. Superphosphate of potash, together with some traces of 

 common salt, of which I have not spoken, because it occurs in 

 all the animal humours. 



Sect. VIII. 



Examination of the part of the Irain which is insolalle in 

 alcohoL 



When we have separated, by repeated digestions in boiling 

 alcohol, every part of the brain soluble in that liquid, tliere 

 remains a greyish white matter in the form of flocks, which has 

 the appearance of fresh cheese, but difiers from tliat substance 

 by its chemical properties : 400 grammes of fresh brain furnished 

 31 grammes of this substance. 



This substance in drying assumes a grey colour, a semitrans- 

 parence, and a fracture similar to that of gum arabic. 



Put into water in that state it absorbs a portion of it, becomes 

 opake, swells up, and softens. The water dissolves a small por- 

 tion of it, for it becomes putrid after an interval of some days. 



Thus softened it dissolves readily by the assistance of heat in 



