32 6 Dr. Pearson on expectorated Matter. 
the fire being withdrawn, a white, brittle, apparently saline 
matter, like melted common salt, was easily detached from 
the platina crucible, which in some places had received a red 
tinge. 
(c) . The melted matter (b) weighed fifty-nine grains : of 
course, this saline residue amounted to of the expecto- 
rated matter, and to one sixteenth of this expectorated matter 
exsiccated. It tasted only of muriate of soda — it had no smell 
. — it effervesced with acids. — it betrayed the presence of alkali 
to the tests above-mentioned — after a few days exposure to 
the air, it partially deliquesced — it precipitated supertartrate of 
potash with tartaric acid, and emitted no ammonia with lime ; 
nor sulphur with muriatic acid discoverable by the most de- 
licate tests. 
( d ) . The fused matter (r) was boiled with three times its 
weight of distilled water, in which about one half appeared 
to dissolve. The clear liquid decanted from the sediment 
and evaporated, yielded crystals of muriate of soda with a 
much smaller quantity of spicula, or needle-shaped crystals ; 
and saline matter which appeared under a lens not definitely 
crystallized. A second boiling of the sediment, with twice its 
quantity of water, afforded almost entirely muriate of soda, 
A third boiling gave a few crystals of this salt only, as ap- 
peared under the magnifier. A fourth boiling, in an equal 
weight of water, afforded no saline matter. 
( e ) . The saline matters ( d ) amounted to forty-five grains 
when evaporated to dryness. I collected by means of a tooth- 
pick, from amongst the cubical crystals, as much as I could of 
the spicula and uncrystallized saline matter. These parts effer- 
vesced and precipitated supertartrate of potash with tartaric 
