SCIENTIFIC SUMMARY. 
85 
sent to him for examination by Marignac. Lecoq de Boisbaudran confirms 
Soret’s statement in regard to the red thulium ray, having observed it in a 
sample of impure yttria which he had received from the latter some months 
ago. He inclined to the belief that all the bands were caused by erbia, 
modified by the conditions. But special experiments led him to agree with 
Soret, and to accept the possibility that erbia was a mixture of three 
oxides. — ( Compt . Rend. 1879, lxxxix. September.) 
Oxidation of Formic and Oxalic Acid by Ammonium-copper oxide.— The 
oxidating action of this substance on azotized bodies has already been pointed 
out by Low. Cazeneave now finds that it has a similar action on formic 
and oxalic acid. At ordinary temperatures and at 100° no change occurs, if 
the substances be heated together in closed tubes ; at 150°, however, both 
acids are rapidly oxidized to carbonic acid 
CH 2 0 2 + 2 CuH 2 0 3 + 2 NH 3 = C0 3 H 2 (NH 3 ) 2 + Cu 2 0 + 2 H 2 0. 
C 2 H 2 0 4 + 2 CuH 2 0 2 + 4 NH 3 =2 C0 3 H 2 (NH 3 ) 2 + Cu 2 0 + H 2 0. 
If the solutions be subsequently exposed to the air, oxygen is taken up and 
ammonium-copper carbonate is formed. 
C0 3 H 2 (NH 3 ) 2 + Cu 2 0 + 0 = C0 3 Cu(NH 3 ) 2 + CuH 2 0 2 . 
When the formic and oxalic acid are in large excess, the copper oxide is 
reduced to copper. — {Bull. Par. 1879, xxxii. 277.) 
The Presence of Alcohol in Animal Tissues. — To clear up some points 
hanging on the investigations of Schrader and Dusch, the following experi- 
ments were tried by J. Bechamp {Compt. Rend. 1879, lxxxix, 573). A 
piece of horseflesh, weighing three kilog., was dipped in boiling water for ten 
minutes, and placed in a dish on the 8th June, and closely covered up with a 
thick linen cloth. On the 16th July the flesh had become very foul and full 
of life, but the air does not appear to have penetrated to the centre. Alcohol 
amounting to 0*8 gramme was obtained, a part of which was burnt, the rest 
oxidized with chromic acid to aldehyde, and then to acetic acid, the soda 
salt of which was prepared and identified. In addition to this, about ten 
grammes of sodium acetate, butyrate, and salts of other higher acids, were 
obtained. Another mass of horseflesh, weighing four kilog., was simply left to 
itself for four days, and on subsequent treatment yielded alcohol as before, 
but in less quantity, as well as acetic and butyric acid. The next question 
which suggested itself to the author was to determine whether alcohol forms 
a constituent of a living organ. It has been shown by A. Bechamp that 
alcohol is a normal constituent of urine and milk ; the question hence arises 
whether it also occurs in the tissues. Fresh sheep’s liver, immediately after 
the animal was killed, contained alcohol ; fresh and still warm sheep’s brains 
also contained it, and in larger quantity than the liver ; fresh and still warm 
bullock’s brains also contained it. These results show that the presence of 
alcohol in the tissues does not necessarily indicate poisoning. 
