668 
POPULAR SCIENCE REVIEW. 
recorded in the Comptes Hendus, and from that periodical we extract the 
following conclusions, which have been formulated by the writer : — (1.) When 
platinum electrodes are placed in ordinary water, contained in vessels of 
glass or porcelain, no trace of dynamic electricity is apparent, and the galvano- 
meter needle does not become deflected. (2.) When the same experiment is 
tried with mineral waters, the deviation of the needle is considerable. (3.) 
When the same mineral water is examined at various periods subsequent to 
the date at which it was drawn from its source, and at different temperatures, 
it is found that the higher the temperature is, the greater is the electric 
manifestation, a result which is due to the gTeater amount of chemical change 
which takes place during high degrees of temperature. From the conclusions 
it will be observed that M. Scoutetten believes in the electrical rather than 
the chemico-physiological action of mineral waters. In some minor experiments 
which this savant conducted, he discovered that even the partial immersion 
of the body in a mineral bath produces an amounts of electrical excitation 
which occasionally extends so far as to produce feverish symptoms. 
Poisonous effects of Nitrite of Amyl . — At the meeting of the British 
Association, which has just been held at Birmingham, some discussion took 
place as to the precise action of this substance. We believe we are correct in 
stating that no more extensive inquiries than those of Dr. B. W. Kichardson 
have been made into the action of nitrite of amyl. W’e therefore subjoin the 
conclusions at which this physiologist has arrived : — 
(1.) Nitrite of amyl is absorbed by the bodies of animals however intro- 
duced into the organism — by the skin, by the stomach, by the lungs, by the 
cellular tissue. 
(2.) After its absorption, its effects are seen immediately on the heart and 
circulation : there is in the first instance violent action of the heart with 
dilatation of the capillaries, followed by diminished but not extinguished 
power of the heart, and contraction of the extreme vessels. As an excitant 
of vascular action, the nitrite of amyl may be considered the most powerful 
agent as yet physiologically discovered. 
(3.) On animals, such as frogs, whose bodies admit of its removal sponta- 
neously, and whose circulatory and respiratory systems are simple, the nitrite 
suspends animation, and when the animals are placed under favourable con- 
ditions for the process of recovery, they may recover after considerable periods 
of time. There is no other known substance that suspends animation in 
these animals for so long a period. On warm-blooded animals, which are 
clothed in thick and less penetrable skin, and in whose bodies the circulatory 
and respiratory systems are more complicated, the nitrite cannot actually 
stop the movements of respiration and circulation without destroying life. 
But even in these animals it can, without destroying life, reduce the forces of 
respiration and circulation so extremely, that a condition precisely analogous 
to what is known as trance or catalepsy in the human subject, can be brought 
on and sustained for many hours. 
(4.) The nitrite of amyl is not an anaesthetic. By it consciousness is never 
destroyed, unless a condition approaching to death be produced. 
(.5.) The effects of the nitrite on the organism are directed to the motive 
force, which it first wildly excites and then subdues. 
